
Glass \ Jf\Zl 

Book wAj5_^ 



COPYRiGHT DEPOSIT 



American Minute Men 
of Today 



By 
FRANCIS A. ADAMS 



American Minute Men 
OF Today 



/-? 



Plans for National Preparedness 
In All Branches of Service. 



BY 

Francis A. Adams 

Former Lieutenant 14th N. Y. Infantry., U. S. V., 1898. 




NEW YORK COMMERCIAL 

NEW YORK 

1917 






Copyright, 1917 
NEW YORK COMMERdlAL 



1/ 

my iQi9t7 

©CI.A4619«7 



Contents 



Page, 
Introduction. 
Tactics, Manoeuvering, Strategy 1 

Chapter I. 
This War Will Be Won in the Air 21 

Chapter II. 
Submarines and Their Proper Control 31 

Chapter III. 
New International Laws 39 

Chapter IV. 
Chemistry in War 48 

Chapter V. 
Radio Control in Modern Warfare 54 

Chapter VI. 
Organization of United States Army on Modern 

Basis 61 

Chapter VII. 
Organization of United States Navy on Modern 

Basis T2 

Chapter VIII. 
Organization of Navairi^ferV^/^i 81 

III 



Chapter IX. 
Organization of Hospital Service 90 

Chapter X. 
Organization of Munitions Supply 99 

Chapter XI. 
Organizing the Commissary 104 

Chapter XII. 
Organization of Transportation Department.... 109 

Chapter XIII. 
Organizing the Fuel Supply for Army and Navy 114 

Chapter XIV. 
Providing for Merchant Marine Service 118 

Chapter XV. 
Defending and Patrolling Our Borders and Coasts 121 

Chapter XVI. 
Organizing Drafts on Basis of Two Years' 

Service 125 

Chapter XVII. 
Organizing Financial Resources 129 

Chapter XVIII. 
Preparing for National Price Control of Necessi- 
ties 134 

Chapter XIX. 
National Control of Labor 133 

Chapter XX. 
Organization of Foreign Information Bureau... 142 

Chapter XXI. 
Unification of Civil Government 146 

IV 



Chapter XXII. 
Organization of Insular and Distant Defense. . , . 151 

Chapter XXIII. 
Improvements of Roads and Waterways 158 

Chapter XXIV. 
Mobilization of War Essentials 163 

Chapter XXV. 
Women's Auxiliary Defense Service 167 

Chapter XXVI. 
Boy Scouts and Reserve Corps 172 

Chapter XXVII. 
Professional Men's League 175 

"Chapter XXVIII. 
Mobilization of Horses, Mules, Cattle and Motor . 
Trucks 178 

Chapter XXIX. 
Augmented Instructions of Officers and Non- 
commissioned Men 182 

Chapter XXX. 
Signal Corps Service 188 

Chapter XXXI. 
Sappers and Miners in Modern War 192 

Chapter XXXII. 
Harbor Defense Corps 196 

Chapter XXXIII. 
Synchronizing Manoeuvers of Regular Army, 

Militia and Volunteer Forces 199 

Chapter XXXIV. 
Atlantic Coast Defense 20.^ 

V 



Chapter XXXV. 
Gulf of Mexico Defense 207 

Chapter XXXVI. 
Mexican Border Defense 211 

Chapter XXXVII. 
Pacific Coast Defense 216 

Chapter XXXVIII. 
Panama Canal Defense 220 

Chapter XXXIX. 
Canadian Border Defense 226 

Chapter XL. 
Great Lakes Defense 230 

Chapter XLI. 
Government and Private Munition Plants 236 

Chapter XLII. 
Naval Construction in War Time 242 

Chapter XLIII. 
American Offensive Defined 246 

Chapter XLIV. 
Protecting Our Export Trade During War 250 

Chapter XLV. 
Protecting Our Import Trade During War 255 

Chapter XLVI. 
Mobilization Camps 258 

Chapter XLVII. 
Hospital Plans for Enemy Sick and Wounded. . 261 

Chapter XLVIII. 
War Plan for Boston 263 

VI 



Chapter XLIX. 
War Plan for New York 268 

Chapter L. 
War Plan for Gulf of Mexico 272 

Chapter LI. 
War Plan for Pacific Coast 275 

Chapter LII. 
War Plan for Hawaiian Islands 278 

Chapter LIII. 
War Plan for the Philippine Islands 281 

Chapter LIV. 
War Plan for Alaska 285 

Chapter LV. 
Prison and Concentration Camps 290 

Chapter LVI. 
Pension Plan for Soldiers, Sailors and Their 

Dependents 293 

Chapter LVII. 
Plan for Defense of Washington, D. C 295 

Chapter LVIII. 
Plan for Permanent World Peace 298 



VII 



Preface 



"Give me liberty or give me death." — Patrick Henry. 

"In time of peace prepare for war." — George Washington. 

"War is hell." — Gen, W. T. Sherman, 

"Let us have peace." — Gen. U. S. Grant. 

"Walk softly but carry a big stick." — Theodore Roosevelt. 

From the cradle days of American liberty to the 
present hour every patriot has been conscious of the 
need to stimulate national spirit and patriotic endeavor. 
Our great statesmen and warriors have charged us to 
be ready to defend our rights and liberties and to avoid 
war through preparedness. We need to respond to 
the present call of the President and this can best be 
done by every loyal man and woman doing his or her 
duty to home and country. We want the work of the 
Republic done by universal service in military and 
civil branches as far as practicable. We want universal 
military training for our youth serving not as a task 
but as a duty. 

This book is designed to briefly outline the co- 
ordinated activities that are embraced in the term — 
national preparedness for peace through adequate pre- 
paredness for war. 



American Minute Men 



General Outline for Nationsd Preparedness 
on Land and Sea — Covering Military and 
Naval Tactics, Manoeuvering and Strategy 
— Functions of Civilian Organizations — In- 
fluence of World War. 



From the President of the United States down to 
the humblest citizen there is no topic that is of more 
intense interest than that of national preparedness. 
Whete the questions of military, commercial and in- 
dustrial relations of the United States have been dis- 
cussed from an academic or practical viewpoint by a 
few thoughtful and public-spirited citizens, it has now 
become a matter which everyone is impelled to con- 
sider and discuss as something- of immediate urgency. 

The complete isolation of America in its relations 
to the other prime nations of the world has been sud- 
denly terminated and we find ourselves involved, 
against our will, and contrary to our historical princi- 
ples, in a situation which means war against the Teu- 
tonic Allies. Our nation which has grown from a 
struggling group of thirteen colonies along the Atlan- 
tic seaboard from New Hampshire to Georgia and 
hardly penetrating beyond the immediate reaches of 
the coast, has become an empire that stretches across 



2 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

3,000 miles of continent and embraces 3,000,000 square 
miles of compact territory besides insular and de- 
tached territories aggregating an additional 800,000 
square miles. From 3,000,000 our population in the 
United States has increased to more than 110,000,000 
. in the 141 years of our existence as a nation, and we 
have 10,000,000 people in our outlying possessions. 

Throughout our career under a written Constitu- 
tion we have avoided the complications arising from 
"foreign entanglements" and have hoped to see our- 
selves continue as the pre-eminent neutral nation. 

In the spirit of peace and not of bravado one of 
our early Presidents promulgated the Monroe doctrine 
which declared that the United States would look with 
disfavor and would, if necessary, forcibly repel further 
territorial acquisition or governmental aggression by 
any foreign powers with regard to the Pan-American 
countries. Our adherence to the Monroe doctrine and 
our sedulous avoidance of any alliances whatsoever 
with other nations have kept us free from the threat of 
war from foreign sources. Our great Civil War was 
fought and settled without foreign intervention, chiefly 
because Great Britain preferred to see the North Amer- 
ican and South American continents controlled by the 
Monroe doctrine rather than have this policy defeated 
and unchecked European aggrandizement permitted in 
the western hemisphere. 

With the outbreak of the world war in August, 
1914, President Wilson announced the intention of this 
country to remain strictly neutral and he has main- 
tained this attitude throughout the trying years of the 
great conflict. The severance of diplomatic relations 
with Germany did not come as a result of any un- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 3 

toward act of the United States, but as the culmina- 
tion of an unprecedented course of infringements of 
neutrality and violations of international law. 

Even in the early months of the world war it was 
declared by many who looked with prophetic eyes 
toward the future that the United States must be 
involved owing to the assaults that were being made 
upon the inalienable rights of mankind. 

It was advocated that this nation prepare for the 
eventualities of embargoes, trade cartels, hostile dem- 
onstrations and even open war against the republic. 

Those who spoke for preparedness were classed 
as "fire eaters," preachers of jingoism and advocates 
of militarism. 

Now that the events of the war have reached a 
stage where it is seen that the United States is in- 
volved and its rights are disregarded, the question of 
national preparedness becomes of overwhelming im- 
portance. 

Those who indulge in lavish dreams of the efficien- 
cy of a nation of farmers, "arising as one man and 
marching into battle," untrained and unarmed, tell us 
that without service, without equipment and on instant 
call the citizens of the United States can defend their 
homes, their country and their honor. We know this 
is not true. 

Others who feel the necessity for adequate train- 
ing and preparation speak of armies of millions, limit- 
less fleets and appropriations that soar into the billions. 

We are told by one class of publicists that foreign 
forces can overwhelm our borders either on the Atlan- 
tic or the Pacific coast and that our cities, such as 
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and San 



4 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Francisco, can be demolished as if by the hand of a 
giant and that nothing can save this country from 
such a fate. 

From all this mass of conflicting statements the 
average citizen is unable to draw a clear conception of 
the actual necessities of our country. 

It is for the purpose of furnishing a reasonable, 
complete, suggestive and unprejudiced statement of 
conditions and of the remedies that are at hand that 
this book is submitted to the American people. 

It is not a technical thesis, nor is it designed to 
be a lurid picture of threatened desolation of America. 
The common sense and the determined courage of our 
people are as great assets today as in the days 
of the American revolution, in the days of the war of 
1812, during the Civil War or in our more recent 
Spanish-American war. What we need most is guid- 
ance. 

Patriotism and an immediate response to the 
obligations of citizenship can be counted upon in the 
present instance. The themes that are discussed in the 
pages to follow and the plans that are presented are 
intended to serve as mental guides to those who wish 
to pursue any one course of action that will help to 
make America the land, prepared to defend peace by 
the ability to wage effective war. 

Modern Tactics. 

Any understanding of military activity must be 
based upon a knowledge of tactics. This is essentially 
proven from the fact that movements of men that are 
not regulated by prescribed tactics are characterized 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 5 

as the acts of the mob and rabble. It is for the pur- 
pose of instructing the youth of the country in the 
proper handling of arms and in the regulated move- 
ments of the various formations of troops and naval 
forces, that schools of military and naval training, are 
maintained. We have our regular army and navy 
establishments supplemented by state militia and 
naval reserve for the purpose of properly edu- 
cating those who serve under the government 
or as volunteers. 

Modern tactics are shown to differ widely from 
those which were declared to be practically immutable 
in the military colleges prior to the outbreak of the 
world war. Before the day of the Belgian invasion 
it was believed by tacticians that mass formation and 
great frontal attacks constituted the proper method for 
armies to pursue when invading an enemy's country 
or in taking the field to defend its own territory. 

The result of the first few weeks of the German 
invasion in August and September, 1914, proved that 
while an overwhelming army, supported by modern 
heavy artillery, could surround and demolish citadels 
such as Liege, Namur and Maubeuge, the halt 
to the forward movement of the armed mass was suf- 
ficient to defeat the purpose of the campaign. The 
objective of the German drive was Paris and the 
obstacles which confronted the armies in the cities 
mentioned above proved fatal and frustrated the suc- 
cessful carrying out of the invasion. Time was given 
to the French, Belgians and their allies to rally in de- 
fense and to assume safe positions in open order and 
trench defense. From the day that the battle of the 
Marne turned the German invasion into retreat and 



6 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

ultimately into a long trench deadlock, the great field 
army movements which the general staffs of all the 
European powers had worked out to perfection in 
theory, were drastically revised. 

Applying the lesson of the present war to America 
it can be shown that no foreign foe is likely to be in 
a position to land an mvading army of a half million 
men or more upon any of our coasts. Yet we find that 
such a huge expeditionary force and attack in mass 
formation are not impossible of accomplishment. This 
should furnish our army and coast defense students 
with a key upon which to base their plans, and should 
intensify the efforts to have a mobile force of coast de- 
fense artillery supplemented by a sufficient number of 
riflemen and their auxiliaries to make possible a stub- 
born and successful trench and open order defense at 
all points on our coasts and frontiers. 

The progress of the world war has proven that 
on the western front, most territory has to be gained 
by yards and not by miles. In contrast to this is the 
adherence to mass movements on the eastern front, 
w^here Russia, Germany and Austria have followed 
the professional teachings of tacticians in developing 
their several invasions, retreats and re-capturing of 
territory, ;a d fortified cities. In Asia Minor the same 
method of using armies in the field has been pursued 
bv Great Britain in the drive to Bagdad and by the 
return assault of Turkey in repelling this attack, cul- 
minating in the defeat of the British at Kut-el-Amara. 
This was followed by a second campaign by the Brit- 
ish which dragged along, but resulted in the re-occupa- 
tion of Kut, and fall of Bagdad, The Russians under 
the Grand Duke Nicholas, also, illustrated the move- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 7 

■ment of troops over open territory covering the inva- 
sion of Asia Minor and the practical subjugation of 
the Turks in Armenia. 

Intensive war is the prevailing method in Europe 
where the most modern equipment, including air ships 
and all the engines of destruction embraced under 
the term of modern scientific weapons, are used, such 
as gas, torpedoes, liquid fire and the other unusual 
agencies. In Africa and in all other fields where hos- 
tilities have been in progress old-time tactics have 
K-een followed, due to the fact that native forces have 
been employed under European officers and old- 
fashioned equipment has predominated. 

Considering the necessities of the United States, it 
may be said that our expedition into Mexico and along 
the Texas border in 1916 demonstrated the inadequacy 
of our equipment in what is now regarded as the indis- 
pensable requisites for modern warfare, including air- 
ships, satisfactory transit facilities, medical and com- 
missary equipment. From a study of our own limita- 
tions and the necessities that have developed in the 
armies of Continental Europe under the present great 
conflict it can be shown that the requirements of to- 
day and the future necessitate a re-organized army 
and navy as to units and the tactics under which they 
must operate. Without attempting to set down fixed 
rules for military regulation it can be stated that re- 
modelled units must be constituted which are fully self- 
supporting, both in the army and the navy. In subse- 
quent chapters this theory will be carried out in suffi- 
cient detail to be plain to even the most untutored 
citizen. Here it is sufficient to say that we now know 
that an individual infantry regiment without artillery, 



8 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

signal corps, cavalry, and medical support, cannot 
operate against a modernly equipped enemy. 

Likewise a major battleship without support can- 
not engage in successful warfare under modern condi- 
tions. The battleship is impotent unless supported by 
auxiliary forces, including scout ships, cruisers, torpedo 
boats, submarines and air craft. One of the reasons 
why less progress is made in the plans for pre- 
paredness is that officers in the various branches of the 
military departments magnify the importance of their 
own branch of the service and minimize that of others, 
so that they demand an unbalanced plan of develop- 
ment for national defense. It is now accepted as an 
axiom of modern war that the eyes of the army and 
navy are its aviation corps. This does not permit of 
cavil, and both the army and navy should co-operate 
in impressing upon Congress the importance of making 
our air craft adequate to our needs. 

The proper development of an aviation corps for 
both the coast defense and army will insure the United 
States against invasion or the sudden landing of an 
armed force, for desultory attack, better than any 
other method. It can be developed by a system of 
modern tactics so that air-craft will effectively prevent 
an enemy from "digging in" even should they, by 
any unexpected development of fortuitous weather or 
temporary inefficient defense, land upon our shores. 
The question of developing tactics for aviation in con- 
junction with the army and navy is new in American 
military affairs and we have the benefit of the results 
now being illustrated daily on the thousands of miles 
of battle-front in Europe and throughout other areas 
where war prevails to guide us. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 9 

Those who have been able to study from personal 
observation some of the results of the great war, de- 
clare that the drive of the Allies on the western front 
in France in July, 1916, was made effective by the 
intelligence which was gathered by means of the air- 
ships of the French and English, which had at that 
time gained ascendancy over the German aviators. 
Concurrent with the operation of airship tactics must 
come a complete revision of the tactics for the move- 
ments of the army and a very radical change in the 
drill and manoeuvering of the navy. 

It will not suffice for a bureaucracy in any of the 
departments to oppose changes that make for the more 
efficient power of the armed forces of our country. 
Line officers, general staff officers and heads of depart- 
ments must be brought to a point where they can all 
co-operate for a general result. This has been done 
by such conflicting forces as are represented in the 
Entente Council for War, and commercial preparedness 
which embraces Great Britain, Russia, Japan, France 
and Italy, to name only the prime nations that repre- 
sent the Allies. If these nations and these empires 
can submerge their individual policies, plans, ambitions 
and prejudices to procure unity of motion, certainly 
the United States, with one form of government, and 
that deriving its power from the free voice of the 
people, can attain unity for its armed protection and 
without delay or rancorous debate. 

Modern Manoeuvering. 

As distinguished from tactics which has to do with 
the minute handling of men, armies, war material and 



10 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

the actual drill of the various units, the question of 
manoeuvering must be considered as an important 
feature of preparedness. In the manoeuvering of forces 
on land the generals in charge of armies or the officers' 
in charge of smaller bodies of troops follow fixed rules 
that time and experience have taught to be wise. These 
embrace the disposition of infantry forces, cavalry, 
artillery and the various auxiliary branches of the 
army. Nothing in the old-time books on military af- 
fairs has touched upon such questions as radio com- 
munication, aerial operation and observation, attack 
by gas and liquid fire. These are developments of the 
present world war and make necessary readjustment 
of the disposition of troops in the field or their location 
in citadels, earth fortifications or open trenches. The 
extraordinary range of modern artillery, which makes 
possible the bombardment of cities and military posi- 
tions at a distance of 10 to 12 miles, completely destroys 
the efficacy of old-time manoeuvering. Another blast- 
ing result to the old school comes from the complete 
observation of troop movements that can be made by 
means of modern balloons and airships. It is shown 
by the lessons already taught in the world war that 
modern field manoeuvers and attempted invasions re- 
quire from five to ten times the number of fighting 
units that were heretofore judged as adequate for car- 
rying out such plans. 

Had it not been for the aerial observations that 
were made on the Gallipoli Peninsula by the German 
and Turkish aviators, the landing of the English and 
French forces on the peninsula would have come as a 
surprise and the attack would unquestionably have 
been successful. Aerial observers were able to warn 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 11 

the Teuton Allies of the approach of the enemy and 
minutely to direct the operation of field artillery to the 
positions which the English and French took up. 

Another example of the use of air-craft for assist- 
ing in manoeuvering in modern war was the Zeppelins 
in locating the British high sea fleet off Jutland on 
May 31, 1916. 

This modern agency, which has been properly 
termed the eyes of the army and navy, robs manoeuver- 
ing of the element of surprise and renders impossible 
the wonderful achievements which make Napoleon and 
other generals of the past famous for their audacious 
and effective surprises. Modern manoeuvering must 
contemplate the fact that the enemy is fully apprised 
of the disposition of troops. There remains, however, 
to the navy some possibility of counteracting the in- 
telligence which is conveyed to the enemy by aviators. 
A modern fleet in a movement toward an enemy's 
force on the high seas can at once change its course 
and either engage in battle or evade the issue. This 
is something which cannot be so readily done by armies 
in the field. 

All the teachings of military experts in the past 
are subject to drastic revision and none fall more com- 
pletely under the modern ban than those which have 
to deal with manoeuvers. It is most important that 
the officers of our army, the non-commissioned officers 
and even the soldiers and sailors should have a clear 
conception of what modern tactics, manoeuver and 
strategy imply. Those who have been close observers 
on the European battle-fronts declare that the 20th 
century soldier is an entirely different unit from the 
stolid infantryman, cavalryman or artilleryman of past 



12 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

years. In both the armies of the Entente Allies and 
the Teutonic Allies great initiative and intuitive action 
rests with the individual and this results from the fact 
that the officers of both belligerents have been com- 
pelled to give close instructions in many branches of 
military action to their men under the high pressure 
of necessity and under actual fire. Such lessons are 
quickly learned and never forgotten. 

Modern Strategy. 

Having reached a point in the discussion of mili- 
tary affairs where it is understood that tactics and 
manoeuvering constitute the first and second stages of 
training, it is time to give heed to the wider application 
of learning thus acquired. This comes under the head- 
ing of strategy. All generals in the past have en- 
deavored to acquire renown by developing strategic 
moves in times of war that would bring a greater 
force of armed men at a given point than the enemy 
could assemble, or by the application of strategy to 
accomplish a surprise attack and secure results by the 
rapid employment of a numerically inferior force. In 
all this, secrecy was a necessity. In ancient and 
medieval times, as well as up to the present era of 
electrical communication, all generals and naval officers 
had to depend upon news brought by courier or by 
the inferior and unreliable methods of physical signal- 
ling, such as wig-wagging. Modern war, as the term 
is now understood, largely does away with secrecy 
and thus leaves both belligerents stripped of the power 
of exercising strategy with the element of surprise. 
The general staffs of conflicting nations soon show 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 13 

by the plan of battle they engage in, and the territory 
in which they operate, what their objective is and this 
determines the character of their strategy. 

When Germany decided to enter the war the 
strategy of the general staff sought to crush first 
France and then Russia. As the quickest means to 
this end a road to Paris across Belgium was chosen. 
.Since that time, the first weeks of the world war, there 
has been no high strategy developed by the German 
general staff. The moves since the failure of the drive 
on Paris have been those of an enemy seeking to re- 
cover freedom of movement after a disastrous repulse. 

The Allies have developed three lines of strategy, 
each of which is proving effective though slow in de- 
velopment. First, Great Britain by agreement with 
her Allies assumed the offensive on the high seas and 
her fleets have dominated the waters of the world since 
the opening day of the war. The second strategic 
movement of the Allies was in concentrating a huge 
expeditionary force at the Egyptian end of the Suez 
Canal and in attacking the Dardanelles. This was for 
the purpose of checking invasion of British territory 
either in Asia or Africa that would be interpreted by 
the millions of natives in India and Africa and in the 
Oceanic Archipelago as a sign of British weakness. No 
loss that was suffered at Gallipoli can be considered 
as too great for the results attained. At the time that 
the Russian armies were being forced back by the 
German drive on the east front in 1915 it was essential 
for the political solidarity of the British Empire that 
Russia should not weaken ; that Japan should be given 
a conclusive demonstration that England was in the 
war to win, and that the colonials and natives in all 



14 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

of Great Britain's possessions should be shown that the 
mother country was indomitable and invincible. The 
GalHpoli campaign assured these ends and saved the 
Suez Canal. 

The third strategic plan of the Allies was to carry 
out a complete capture of all of Germany's territorial 
possessions. This has been done to such an extent 
that of the one million square miles which were under 
the German flag August 1, 1914, practically all is now 
in the possession of Great Britain, France, Italy, Bel- 
gium and Japan, or apparently hopelessly defended. 

The battles in France, Russia, Italy and in the 
Balkan states have been forced, not by the strategy 
developed by the Allies, but by the circumstances that 
the Central powers occupied a compact territory and 
had the advantage of the quick shifting of armies to 
any of their three chief battle-fronts. If the adoption 
of a policy of persistent retention of captured posses- 
sions and intensive attack on lost territory can be 
termed strategy the Allies have adopted this with the 
motto, "All territory held by the Teutons must be 
evacuated as a condition precedent to peace." 

This can be interpreted into the same policy that 
General Grant adopted when he uttered his famous 
dictum, "We will fight this out on these lines if it takes 
all Summer." His tenacity and unceasing fighting 
won on this basis. The enemy was given no rest 
and no protection from a persistent battle at one point. 
The Allies who had war thrust upon them in 
Europe have been able in the two and one-half years 
of the conflict to weld an iron ring around the Central 
powers. This ring holds at all points and is constantly 
contracting. It is the belief of the world that only 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 15 

one result can come from the continuation of this 
policy and that is the defeat of the Central powers. 

When trench warfare became the settled condi- 
tion of the western battle-front and to a large extent 
on the eastern battle-front in Europe, generals, as well 
as admirals, had to resort to a new method of war- 
fare and surrender the dreams of developing successful 
strategies. The campaign for a blockade of the Baltic 
and of the North seas by the British high sea fleet at 
long distances and with only partial effectiveness, came 
as the result of modern conditions, the chief of which 
was the development of the submarine. In the army 
a supplemental strategic move of the Allies came in the 
inauguration of the Salonica campaign. This, as in 
the case of the Gallipoli campaign, which it succeeded 
as a logical development, was based upon political as 
well as military reasons. The neutrality, or at least 
the inactivity, of Greece was insured and the 
division of the military forces of the Balkans was 
accomplished, Germany and her allies securing 
the co-operation of Bulgaria and the Entente Allies 
securing the late, but serviceable, co-operation of 
Rumania and the resuscitation of the armed forces 
of Servia. 

Applied to the United States under present condi- 
tions the strategies developed in Europe and through- 
out the world during the past two years and more of 
war should teach the lesson that naval supremacy is 
the chief defense and the strongest arm for offense that 
a nation can possess. Further, the land strength to 
take the initiative in any field must be preponderantly 
superior to its opponents and must be completely 
equipped for all classes of modern military activities. 



16 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Where each of the conflicting nations in Europe has 
the protection of its own lands and its own people as 
the primary object, the United States has for the 
theatre of its activity a land of such gigantic propor- 
tions that it necessitates our navy and army being 
larger in all proportions and branches than any other 
nation of equal population. With the Atlantic Coast, 
Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Coast, the Panama Canal 
zone, and our possessions in Alaska and the insular 
territories, a dominant navy is a prime requisite. 

No military strategy of the United States can be 
successful which does not rest upon the power of a 
controlling naval force at the five points above indi- 
cated. Such power alone can give to the United States 
the ability to develop a scheme of military strategy. 
No nation, great or small, can rely upon a policy of 
defensive fighting alone. This invites domestic dis- 
satisfaction, leading generally to revolution and in- 
tensifies the activity of an enemy. It is, therefore, 
clear that on strategy our plans must be developed 
to a point that goes beyond that of mere defensive 
equipment and operation and reaches a stage that will 
include adequate preparedness for war. 

In the past two and one-half years every gain of 
terrain in the world war has been the result of a deluge 
of big projectiles preceding an armed infantry attack. 
This means that in preparing for the eventualities of 
war the United States should be supplied with a re- 
serve of munition so large that it could, at any time, 
inaugurate an offensive and successfully carry a drive 
with its military forces. Our most effective strategy 
is to be able to begin a strong offensive action on any 
or all of the five great possible battle-fronts that the 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 17 

nation must defend and from which it must proceed to 
meet and vanquish its enemies. 

The great questions of strategy as applied to army 
manoeuvers, naval manoeuvers and tactics cannot be 
developed instanter by our present limited force or by 
those which would develop under actual war and the 
call for millions of men. 

It requires the training that is given by a life- 
time's devotion to army and navy service as in all 
countries throughout the world, to have officers capable 
of handling huge bodies of men and able to evolve 
proper and effective plans of engagement. 

Conclusions From World War. 

In a general summary of the events of the war, 
from August, 1914, to the present day, it is to be noted 
that Germany, which was the most thoroughly pre- 
pared for the conflict, has suffered least of any of the 
continental countries, in the matter of the invasion of 
its territory and has shown the greatest power of re- 
sistance. The German army was long able to hold at 
bay in France after their initial drive into the enemies' 
countries, forces that outnumbered them in the ratio 
of approximately two to one. It is also to be noted 
that in the matter of expenditures in the war, the ratio 
is estimated to be one to two in favor of the Teutonic 
Allies. Their great stores of munitions and accoutre- 
ments were gathered gradually during a period of 
forty-two years of uninterrupted peace, 1872-1914, and 
on a scale of prices that was low and based on the 
competitive bids of their home manufacturers. In 
sharp distinction to this was the almost hysterical de- 



18 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

mands of the Entente Allies for adequate supplies to 
meet the unexpected attack. During the first two and 
one-half years of the war prices for all classes of muni- 
tions and for all articles of commerce that reached 
England or France, Italy or Russia, rose on an un- 
checked scale. Month by month the price on such 
essentials as copper, steel products, horses and food- 
stuffs, kept mounting. The prodigious efforts made 
by Great Britain to hold the sea has cost the Empire 
untold millions in wealth and a substantial percentage 
of its shipping; the same proportionate toll has been 
exacted from France, Russia and Italy. Great Britain 
has been immune from serious land attacks because of 
the preponderant strength of its navy and has, there- 
fore, been saved from the devastations of war in the 
Kingdom just as the land forces of Germany have 
kept the German Empire almost completely free from 
suffering a similar blow. 

For the United States of America to raise an army 
and build a navy under the pressure of war means 
that this nation must spend many billions of dollars 
where, under normal conditions, the same degree of 
efifiiciency could be attained by the expenditure of prob- 
ably half this sum. This is the monetary penalty of 
unpreparedness. But there is a greater penalty exacted 
from us which comes from our inability to put a million 
or two million trained men into the field, ofificered by 
fifty thousand to one hundred thousand men with ade- 
quate military knowledge. Government edicts and un- 
limited money cannot improvise trained soldiers or 
summon skilful officers to command them. The one 
outstanding lesson of the world war is that the peace 
of the United States must depend in the future upon 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 19 

adequate preparedness for military and commercial 
defense at all times and that we never sink into a state 
of unpreparedness such as now exists in this country. 
The experience of our armed forces on the Mexican 
border is but an indication of how futile would be our 
early efforts to meet a thoroughly drilled enemy of 
even small numbers on land. 

It is harder to create a high sea fleet and a trained 
corps for the protection of our sea coasts. Seamanship 
is something that is only attained by years of practice 
and recruits conscripted or volunteering from the 
farms make easy victims for a trained enemy. A 
policy of national parsimony for half a century has 
swept the oceans practically clear of American mer- 
chant marine ships and the final obsequies resulted from 
the passage of the La Follette Act and apparently a 
tomb was erected over the American seamen when the 
Ship Purchase Act was passed by Congress. 

What this nation has to do now is to bring its citi- 
zens in all States, those living in the cities as well as 
those occupying our farms, our ranches or working in 
our mines and in our varied industries, to realize that 
national independence for the United States rests upon 
our ability to hold our right and title to freedom of 
the seas. If engaged in the pursuits of peace our world 
trade shipping spells unequalled prosperity, and in the 
days of war our power to hold the sea means victory 
to our arms. 

Great Britain has shown that a nation can be 
stirred to its depths, that five million men, in the Brit- 
ish Isles alone, and two million men from her domin- 
ions could be relied on as volunteers, to support the 
Empire, within the first two and one-half years, be- 



20 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

cause the British flag has been dominant on every sea 
and has held control of every continent since the first 
shot of the world war was fired. 

Our position is one that could be made to parallel 
that of Great Britain. We represent a nation of 110,- 
000,000, occupying a self-supporting land and have 
every resource for defense and every avenue open for 
effective operation against a foe. The thing to be done 
quickly and thoroughly is for our nation to prepare it 
self voluntarily to do its share of work in the world 
and not to leave the burden of mankind to be carried 
by other nations. Under the title "American Minute 
Men," every man as well as every woman and youth 
can find the exact office that will best serve the needs 
of our country and by enrolling and doing this thing 
well will help the United States to win a complete 
victory against the common enemies of mankind. 

We are at war against great and powerful nations 
and the full strength of the United States must bi' 
exerted. 



CHAPTER I. 

THIS WAR WILL BE WON IN THE AIR. 

It has been shown that the most remarkable de- 
velopment in the war now in progress has been made 
in the department of aerial navigation. All of the 
nations of both the Entente Allies and the Teutonic 
Alliance entered the war with only experimental equip- 
ment in aviation, but the instant efficiency of air-craft 
for scouting and for gaining general intelligence was 
demonstrated and fleets of biplanes and monoplanes 
soon made their appearance on all the battle-fronts. 
Following the intensive activity in making military 
observations, both belligerents began to increase the 
size and power of their airships and to equip them with 
guns for attack and defense. Before the first six 
months of the war had passed the daily reports of the 
conflict showed that air duels were the common course 
and that daring feats in the matter of raids on armed 
depots, munition plants and heavy pieces of artillery 
were being made by aviators who became expert in 
dropping bombs and darts on an enemy. 

All of the operations that were carried out during 
the early period of the war were of a desultory char- 
acter and lacked the precision which comes from de- 
veloping an arm of defense to a point where it is used 
under the regulation of a fairly fixed code. There was 
little technique or tactics in the methods employed 



22 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

by the volunteer aviators and not until 1916 did the 
air corps in any of the armies assume proportions that 
placed them on a par with infantry, cavalry, artillery, 
engineering and medical staffs. 

In examining the records that are being made in 
air flights it is shown that the radius of effective flight 
has extended from 100 to nearly 600 miles and in 
extreme instances flights of over 800 miles have been 
made over enemy country. Such developments mean but 
one thing, that the war of the future will be one to be 
fought largely in the air. The manifold advantages of 
aerial combat as compared to that on the ground or on 
the water permits of no comparison. The cost of pur- 
chasing air craft is but a fraction of that of sea-going 
vessels and the effective striking power of airships as 
compared to the slow and tortuous movements of 
troops across entrenched positions and against strong- 
ly held citadels makes the air-craft the most facile in- 
strument for modern war. In carrying out other im- 
provements in air-craft all of the army staffs of the 
Continent have striven to attain a large lifting power 
and are now building battle-planes capable of carry- 
ing from 12 to 20 men besides guns and the aviator. 
With a fleet of several hundred or a thousand such 
ships a formidable invasion of the enemy country can 
be accomplished, especially where the belligerents 
occupy contiguous territory. The cost of maintaining 
an airship fleet is small as compared to the more 
numerous and cumbersome branches of the infantry, 
cavalry and artillery. 

The mobility of the air-craft is one of its greatest 
attributes and military precedents vanish under the 
new records that airships are making. The advance of 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 23 

an enemy can now be seriously impeded by the vigor- 
ous attack of air-craft in much the same wdy that 
cavalry was used in the old tactics. Distant fortifica- 
tions and munition centers are open to assault, and 
where they are not entirely destroyed their effectiveness 
is seriously impaired by the fires which result from air 
raids and the dropping of bombs. In the complicated 
production of modern munitions the destruction of 
one department may be so serious as to retard the 
completion of supplies. 

In building up the aviation corps of the army for 
the United States there are many arguments in favor 
of the work being done on a generous scale. In the 
first place this country has the distinction of being the 
home of the first heavier-than-air craft and the earlv 
developments in aerial navigation were carried on here 
The inventive genius of Americans has done much to 
advance the science and the needs of our country lend 
themselves with particular weight to the protection 
which must be given by air-craft. This country with 
its more than 8,000 miles of sea coast, its long north- 
ern line from the Atlantic to the Pacific, stretching 
nearly 4,000 miles in its contour and with the southern 
and southwesterly frontier along the Mexican border 
of over 1,800 miles, the patrol duty alone is one that 
is formidable if it has to be done by cavalry or foot 
soldiers. With the aid of airships this long coast line 
and border can be effectually patrolled, not only on 
our own side of the line and on our shores, but for 
great distances over the ocean or in the enemy's terri- 
tory. This alone places the aviation question before 
the people in such an imperative manner that it cannot 
be ignored. 



24 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

What is now required is that our army and naval 
officers should formulate a code of aerial tactics and 
manoeuvers that can be utilized by the state militia and 
the naval reserve so that co-ordinated movements ' 
could be accomplished in the present war. It is ap- 
parent that with the ability of a hostile airship to cross 
into our territory the hangars or sheds, as they may 
more properly be termed, for housing airplanes, dirigi- 
ble and observation balloons, should be made subter- 
ranean and bomb-proof. The present policy of having 
aviation landing stations and the buildings constructed 
of flimsy material and without protection seems ill- 
advised and inefficient. These shelters should be built 
on some plan similar to the dugout or potato house, 
which is familiar to anyone who has been on an old- 
fashioned American farm. Having a mound of earth 
thrown over the structure and this turfed down, enemy 
aviators would be unable to locate the shelters and 
even if a bomb should fall upon the shelter it would 
do little or no damage. 

In carrying out the development of air-craft for 
the American army and navy and its auxiliary forces, 
due heed should be taken of the accomplishments of 
monoplanes, biplanes, triplanes, super-airplanes of 
quadruple-plane construction, the dirigible airships and 
the various types of captive balloons. It is shown in 
practice that from engine trouble or some other slight 
adjustment airships frequently have to descend and re- 
pairs have to be made on the ground. Where this is 
done in an enemy country it is perilous and some 
means of escape should be provided for the pilot and 
observer. This may best be accomplished by having 
as standard equipment with every heavier-than-air 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 25 

craft a motor-cycle carried in the same way that a 
spare tire is furnished with an automobile. This would 
give the crew of the stranded airship an opportunity 
to retreat or escape by a dash from pursuers. In 
formulating plans for the airship corps the United 
States should think of the future as well as of the 
present development of the art. Efficiency means per- 
fection in detail and this country is free to choose its 
type of ships and the various refinements connected 
with the art, selecting- from all other nations, discard- 
ing their failures and adopting their successes. It is 
of prime importance that early drilling should be done, 
with airships in squadrons, platoons and squads, and 
that a system of group operation should be devised 
that is similar to the movement en echelon that is 
employed for infantry and cavalry manoeuvers. In 
place of being on a horizontal plane the airships would 
move oflf at various altitudes so that the ships nearest 
the earth would be in advance. By maintaining such 
a formation an enemy's counter-attack would be placed 
at the disadvantage of having a series of airships pass 
in flight over their heads and the force having the 
larger number of ships in action should succeed in 
dominating the situation. 

As nearly all of the efficient raids that have been 
made during the great world war- against munition 
plants and fortified positions have been conducted at 
night, it is important that the United States aviation 
corps should be drilled for nocturnal engagement. The 
sudden daylight raid is robbed of the element of sur- 
prise and subjects the pilot to the maximum of danger 
from counter-attack by anti-aircraft guns and by op- 
posing airship antagonists. The records show that 



26 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

airships have been used with marked success for ob- 
servation, counter-defense against the scout ships of 
an enemy, daylight and night attacks on enemy posi- 
tions and property, long distance scouting, for 
messenger service and, in the instance of the defense 
of Kut-el-Amara, for the attempted release of a be- 
leagured garrison. 

The theory in military aviation places speed as* 
the first requisite and airships should be brought to 
a point where they can attain 150 to 200 miles per 
hour, in sudden flight. The second requisite is abihty 
for sustained flight and increase in radius of action ; the 
third requirement is carrying capacity and the fourth 
aim of the present inventors who are attempting to 
standardize aerial service is to perfect the climbing 
quality of the heavier-than-air craft. A desirable at- 
tribute in air-craft is stability and this is being im- 
proved by stabilizers to such an extent that the carry- 
ing of armament is not now as dangerous as it was 
in the earlier stages. American ingenuity has evolved 
the non-recoil gun so as to take up the shock of ex- 
plosion and thus relieve an airship of the racking that 
comes from the discharge of a gun fixed rigidly to the 
frame. In the perfected methods for bomb-dropping 
and for projecting air torpedoes the modern airships 
are proving their military worth. It is not now the 
exception when a direct hit is made, but rather when 
the missile misses its mark. 

Extending the functions of the airship to naviga- 
tion over water the ingenuity of inventors has pro- 
duced many types of hydroplanes which can not only 
ride on the water and arise under their own power, 
but which can be propelled on the surface at a fair 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 27 

speed. This dual capacity to travel on either air or 
water and to land without damage on terra firma 
makes the modern airship truly a rival to aquatic fowl. 
For all coast defense and for equipment on naval ves- 
sels and other ships the hydroplane is the proper type 
of air-craft to be used. 

Those who are most deeply interested in the ques- 
tion of national defense and in aviation declare that 
the transoceanic flight by airship will be accomplished 
when a perfected hydroplane is produced. It is be- 
lieved that the risk in attempting a trans-Atlantic 
flight in an airplane that would be powerless to float 
on the water is too great to be attempted and that 
when a staunch hydroplane with a 3,000-mile radius 
can be produced the ocean flight will be undertaken 
and successfully accomplished. 

It is certain that the United States with its sea- 
coast cities and itsi concentrated munition centers 
needs the protection of huge fleets of airships. For 
New York harbor, for example, squadrons of hydro- 
planes and airplanes should be located at such vantage 
points as Governor's Island, Sandy Hook, Ft. Wads- 
worth, Ft. Hamilton, Far Rockaway, Bath Beach, 
Long Beach, Ft. Totten, Ft. Schuyler, Fire Island and 
Montauk Point. At Boston, Baltimore, Norfolk, Wash- 
ington, Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, 
Seattle, adequate aerial defense should be developed. It 
is interesting to consider that in multiplying the num- 
ber of aircraft to be used in this country when we 
regain our desired peace with other nations our 
airships can be used most effectually for purposes of 
peaceful commerce and for the distribution of mail, 
light merchandise and for passenger transportation. 



28 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

As soon as aviation is firmly established and is re- 
garded as safe it will become a national utility the 
same as the automobile and, where a few hundred air-- 
ships are now used by amateurs for pleasure and sport, 
probably millions will be in service within a few years. 
The cost of manufacturing airships in large quantities 
can be brought down, so that they will be very much 
cheaper; like the popular priced automobiles and their 
upkeep will be correspondingly lower. There is no 
comparable expense for tires, in airships, as with auto- 
mobiles and the question of good roads is entirely 
eliminated. All flight is made across country and 
snow or mud is no drawback. 

The strongest defense this country can evolve is 
to have a supreme command of the air. This war 
will be won by the nation having control through 
airships, and whether the war is brought to this con- 
tinent or is fought elsewhere, the determining factor 
will rest in air-craft efficiency. This country must be 
at all times prepared through practice to be in a posi- 
tion to withstand aerial assault. Millions of men fully 
equipped as militia or as a regular army are ineffectual 
in combatting an enemy that controls the air. For this 
reason the naval reserve, our state militia and the 
regular army and naval forces of the United States 
should engage in extensive aerial manoeuvers so that 
thousands of men in all sections of the country can be 
made familiar with the handling of airships. Not only 
should the carrying out of the aviation corps be made 
a national policy, but full consideration must be given 
to the best methods for protecting cities and manu- 
facturing centers against aerial attack. The use of 
anti-aircraft guns and the manipulation of searchlights 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 29 

for repelling night attacks cannot be improvised and 
well-drilled gun crews and expert manipulators of 
searchlights must be made part of the drill in con- 
nection with the aviation corps. 

In summing up the advantages of air-craft in war 
these reasons are most convincing and should carry 
weight with members of Congress and state officials 
who have the final say in passing on appropriations 
for military purposes. First, opposing armies cannot 
anticipate the direction of an assault to be made by 
airships. Second, opposing armies cannot employ as- 
phyxiating gases against airships. Third, trench works 
of the enemy are immediately passed over and without 
loss of life or wasteful use of ammunition. Fourth, 
the assailants can deliberately pick the time and place 
of attack. Fifth, aerial equipment is the most econom- 
ical of any class of war munitions. Sixth, the number 
of men employed for the objects attained is smaller 
in the operation of airships than in any other branch 
of service. Seventh, enemy country is least able to 
protect itself against aerial raids, because these attacks 
are made across country, whereas operations of 
cavalry, artillery or foot soldiers must be along rail- 
road lines or on highways. Eighth, danger from mining 
and direct gun fire can be avoided by the use of air- 
craft. Ninths the operation of the airship is more 
effective than surface or submarine ships, because 
these are subject to continued direct attack by similar 
craft and are liable to destruction by mines and the 
hazards of storms and shipwreck. Tenth, the un- 
paralleled mobility of air-craft in its perfected form is 
proven by the fact that it is not subject to impairment 
by mud, hilly country, rivers, flooded areas, artificial 



30 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

.barriers or weather conditions. Eleventh, experi- 
ence indicate^ that manning airships in proportion to 
the accomplishments they can attain compares as one ■ 
to one hundred with the quota of men needed for land 
attack and one to twenty for attack by means of naval 
vessels taken all in all. Twelfth, aviation permits of 
rapid and repeated assaults on one point without the 
danger of retreat or siege. Airship assaults can be made 
from great distances and repeated at irregular intervals 
so that the enemy is frustrated in trying to cope witn 
unknown forces attacking from unexpected quarters 
at random intervals and with unknown implements of 
destruction. Thirteenth, the number of killed and 
wounded in the aviation corps is the smallest of any 
where the hazards of the service are estimated on a 
percentage basis. Fourteenth, historical chronology 
shows that one bowman was worth five swordsmen; 
one rifleman became worth ten bowmen; one modern 
magazine rifleman became worth ten single shot rifle- 
mrn, and one perfected machine gun or rapid fire gun 
proves itself sufficient to repel a platoon. With air- 
ships one perfected dirigible or battle-plane with a 
quota of 25 men is regarded as the equivalent of a 
thousand foot soldiers or one naval vessel of minor 
importance. Fifteenth, it is stated a modern aerial fleet 
can prove its effectiveness and should place a force of 
5,000 men organized in an air battle unit in a position 
to withstand the assault from a land force of at least 
200,000 that is not so well equipped in air-craft. 

The modern air fleet will give this nation the 
power to protect its own coasts, its interior cities, 
towns and rural districts and to carry if necessary a 
vigorous war. into the enemy's country with a mini- 
mum loss of life and at the minimum of expense. 



CHAPTER II. 

SUBMARINES AND THEIR PROPER CONTROL^ 

When firearms were first introduced into warfare 
the nations of the world did not relapse into unchecked 
barbarism by extending their use as a means of attack- 
ing non-combatants or in utilizing this new instru- 
mentality of death in a way other than that of destroy- 
ing the armed forces of an enemy. The crude princi- 
ples of international law which existed in the eleventh 
century when cannon were first used in an action 
before Constantinople were sufficiently restrictive to 
keep even the unspeakable Turk of that early day 
from lapsing into utter barbarism. 

It remained for the present era to be marked by 
the savage development in the conduct of war as 
illustrated by the unrestricted use of submarines by 
the Teutonic Allies. The German plan of frightful- 
ness in the use of submarines which results in the tor- 
pedoing or sinking by direct gun fire of all ships en- 
tering an inhibited zone, makes a veritable scrap of 
paper of all international treaties, and flouts the com- 
mon law of humanity. It is, therefore, compulsory on 
the part of nations that cleave to the principles of 
justice and international comity, to so regulate the 
operation of submarines that they can no longer be 
used in an unrestricted manner, for no exigencies of 
war can justify a continuing violation of tlu 



32 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

rules of humanity and the merciless murdering of 
women, children and non-combatant men on the high 
seas, any more than to countenance aerial assaults 
over undefended cities or country sides. The invention 
of a new method of destruction does not carry with it 
the license to unrestricted use by nations any more 
than by individuals. The submarine when used within 
its proper limits must be bound by the same regulations 
that are enforced against surface or aerial craft. Ger- 
many in using the submarine and Zeppelin has shown 
a total disregard for humanity and has brought upon 
the Empire the united opposition of all nations not 
directly allied to her in the present world war. 

For future operations it will be necessary to make 
the untrammeled use of the submarine a cause for 
war and result in the immediate armed repression of 
the offender by all the civilized nations that are party 
to the international peace league, which it is now cer- 
tain will be the redeeming result of the world war. 
The fatuous statement that the necessity of war com- 
pels terrorizing use of submarines, airships or war in- 
struments on land is disproved from the fact that in 
place of bringing England, France, Belgium, Servia 
or Italy into a state of subjection the massacres have 
only intensified the spirit of the people to resist to the 
last the militarism of Prussia and her Allies. 

Not only is the effect negligible as a means of ter- 
rorizing an enemy, but the psychology of unrestricted 
use of diabolical methods of destruction is detrimental 
to the offender. It creates mental weakness and moral 
degeneracy and it is now the judgment of military 
experts that the esprit de corps of the Teutons is weak- 
ened because of their dependence upon frightfulness 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 33 

to win battles where straight manhood, courage in 
open conflict, should have been their dependence. The 
fighting quality of all of the Entente Allies has been 
strengthened and is today the greatest assurance of 
their ultimate victory. The instinct of self-preserva- 
tion is keener in the man who is attacked by foul 
means than in the despicable creature who uses 
inhuman instruments to bring death upon innocent 
humanity. Nations could not have been fanned to a 
white heat faster than by being attacked in the coward- 
ly fashion that is typified by the unrestricted use of 
the submarine. On land there is always the possi- 
bility of the citizens of an invaded territory fleeing 
before the advance of an enemy, but on the high seas 
when merchant ships are sunk, often in the darkness 
of night, without notice, and where no attempt is 
made to rescue the few unfortunates who may take 
to small boats, death is presented in its most awful 
form. After more than thirty-two months of warfare 
it is the consensus of opinion throughout the world 
that the nation using frightfulness as its chief weapon 
writes itself as defeated. The inefficacy of raids by 
the use of Zeppelins is now a matter of record and 
their visitation to England and France is believed to 
have been abandoned, not through a change of heart, 
but from the fact that the Entente Allies have learned 
how to repel this form of wanton attack. 

The intensified submarine warfare, which was 
announced to start February 1, 1917, and which is now 
in progress, is bringing to the front the difficulty of 
submarine regulation, and all neutral nations as well 
as the entente belligerents have to address themselves 
to the question of how best to safeguard their shipping 



34 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

interests and maintain their undeniable rights to the 
free use of the high seas. In place of dragging along 
indetermi-nably, the new horrors of the submarine 
which have been added through the Laconia outrage 
to the earlier sinking of the Lusitania, will now be 
solved in the interests of humanity by the international 
suppression of twentieth century piracy. 

The proper use of submarines as an arm of the 
navy for harbor defense, for coast patrol and as an 
auxiliary to a high sea fleet in action, does not need 
to be restricted or minimized. Any action that a sub- 
marine can perform ag'ainst an enemy's armed ships 
is justifiable according to the principles of war. There 
has been no complaint made by any of the enemies 
of the Teutons against the successes of submarines 
when they were scored in destroying battleships, 
cruisers, troopships or other forms of naval craft that 
were a legitimate opponent. 

It is conceded' that submarines may properly be 
used as a means of blockade of an enemy's ports where 
they operate under the same restrictions as surface 
ships and where visit and search and the safety of 
non-combatant crews and passengers are fully provided 
for. The history of the present war shows that in a 
number of instances submarines of the Teutonic Allies 
have been able to conform strictly to the letter of the 
law in this regard and the outrages that have resulted 
from unrestricted submarine activity emphasize the 
abandoned policy which Von Tirpitz has imposed upon 
the German people. Where visit and search and safety 
of crew and passengers cannot be accomplished the 
submarine must be forced to forego the advantage of 
sinking a merchant ship and endangering human life. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 35 

Nothing can justify humanity in sanctioning massacre 
at sea in forms that outdo the black days of old-time 
piracy. 

The question of submarines widens as a result 
of the present war into a consideration of their models. 
There are now harbor and coast submarines of small 
tonnage; large cruising submarines with a radius of 
from six to eight thousand miles and cargo submarines 
of the "Deutschland" type which are intended to act 
as blockade runners and as supply ships for a navy. 
It, therefore, becomes of immediate interest to all 
nations to revise international law so as to have a 
set of regulations to govern the movements of sub- 
marines. 

The fundamental protection of a neutral zone on 
the coast line of countries is vitiated when submarines 
are permitted to come within a now too> narrow 
three-mile limit, submerged. This must be changed 
and a zone of at least twelve miles made immune from 
the entrance of submarines except upon the surface. 
This permits of the patrol of the neutral nation hailing 
an approaching submarine, ascertaining its character 
and purpose and escorting it into a harbor. In the 
present world war Great Britain has used submarines 
in a strictly legal manner; so has France, Russia and 
Italy. It was only the Germans and the Austro- 
Hungarians who resorted to unrestricted submarine 
activity and who have brought the; criticism of the 
world upon themselves. The isolated instance where 
it was alleged that a Turkish submarine had sunk a 
passenger ship and had killed many passengers, in- 
cluding an American Consul, is generally accepted as 
having been a vicarious acceptance of guilt by Turkey 



36 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

to shield Germany from an instant break with the 
United States. 

During- the war several nations have taken a 
drastic position as to the treatment to be accorded 
submarines, and Holland, Denmark and Norway have 
ruled that a stranded submarine or one coming into a 
neutral port to escape capture must be interned, 

Because the United States took no prompt action 
in formulating rules for dealmg with the submarine 
question we were embarrassed by the entry into the 
port of Baltimore of the merchant submarine 
"Deutschland." This placed us in a position where 
it would have been unneutral to have denied the ship 
the courtesies of our port inasmuch as we had given 
no previous warning as to our attitude. Later the 
ship made another round trip and entered the port of 
New London. While there the U-boat 53, a navy 
vessel, visited Newport, Rhode Island, remaining 
scarcely twenty-four hours, and took to sea, immedi- 
ately attacking merchant ships and sinking six within 
sight of the American coast. Our unpreparedness in 
the matter of knowing how to deal with the submarine 
difficulty forced the humane impulse of our destroyer 
fleet officers to trail the U-53 and pick up the men, 
women and children who were ruthlessly set adrift 
in small boats. A more ignominious position has never 
before in the history of man been forced upon a great 
nation. 

It is incumbent upon the Federal Government to 
take cognizance of the submarine in its international 
phase as well as its being an instrument for use in our 
navy and to provide strict rules for its control. These 
must provide for the methods of approach to our 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 37 

shores, the conduct of the craft while in our harbors 
and the method by which such craft can depart. It is 
all-important that no submarine of any other country 
should be permitted to submerge in American waters. 
At the present time the spying qualities of the sub- 
marine are limited, but ingenuity will certainly suc- 
ceed in giving imdersea eyes to the submarine and this 
would make harbor defense a travesty if submarines 
of the enemy or of any nation in time of peace could 
make a leisurely survey of our under-water harbor pro- 
tectionc. 

One of the great advantages which it now appears 
will always attach to the submarine is its develop- 
ment as an emergency freight carrier. This opens 
the possibility of a large merchant submarine, fleet 
with increased surface sailing ability, carrying on 
trade with ports that are closed some portion of the 
year by ice blockade. In times of war in which the 
United States was neutral it would give this country 
the power to continue its trade with a nation that was 
being blockaded. If our submarines were dexterous 
enough to run the blockade they would be fully within 
their rights. As a means of national defense blockade- 
running submarines might prove the salvation of any 
of our coast cities. If an enemy fleet and an invading 
army should invest an American city, the only means 
of egress and ingress might be by submarines and for 
this purpose it is imperative that our channels and 
harbor entrances should be deepened so that our own 
craft in time of war could enter and depart from our 
harbors submerged and immune from the attack of a 
blockading fleet. 

There are so many questions of vital importance 



38 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

arising from the world war and the present chaotic 
condition of this country in the matter of defense and 
offense, that it is difficult to pin down to the most 
essential things to be done at this critical time. Cer- 
tainly all minds will agree that the building of an 
adequate fleet of submarines for the navy and the 
creation of a large merchant submarine flotilla are in- 
dispensable to our saftey. It will also be clear that 
strict regulations for the protection of our country 
and the effort to get international co-operation to con- 
trol submarines are things which Congress should un- 
dertake at once. 



CHAPTER III. 

NEW INTERNATIONAL LAWS. 

It is appreciated by the governments in all parts 
of the world that there is urgent need for a revision 
of international law that will take full cognizance of 
modern fighting conditions and the inadequacy of old 
time international practices which had been honored 
by close observance through centuries when war was 
a matter of hand to hand conflict, or at best was waged 
with crude and unscientific implements. The new 
code of international law will embrace regula- 
tions for the operation of craft that sail upon the sur- 
face of the seas ; for under sea navigation and for 
aerial vessels. Under these three grand divisions the 
present world war has been waged in a manner which 
no diplomacy of the nineteenth century could have 
foreseen and which has resulted in flagrant violations 
of what the world had thought to be sacred national 
rights of belligerents, as well as neutrals. 

The new canons of international law will include 
regulation of hostilities by belligerents and their atti- 
tude toward non-combatants of the warring nations. 
They will include new rules for the protection of 
neutrals, both on land and on sea, and will be drawn 
so as to include proper protection of life and property. 
The great world war has made utterly futile the 
recognized requirements of international law. The 



40 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

rights of neutrals have been ignored in many instances 
and outraged in others. The rights of non-combatants 
on land as well as oh the seas have been abridged by 
all the warring nations and gradually obliterated by 
others. The barbaric dictum, "Necessity Knows No 
Law," has been revived and has been put into full 
demonstration in the violation of neutral territory, the 
levying of crushing indemnities against cities and 
citizens of an invaded territory and even to the extent 
of the deportation and enslavement of people in sub- 
jugated countries. All of these acts are in positive 
contradiction of the inhibitions that are laid down by 
international law and to which all of the chief nations 
of the world were signatory and morally bound in 
August, 1914. 

Might has had its sway under the sword of the 
Teutonic Allies and no act has been too violent or too 
inhuman for the war leaders to sanction. Now the 
world faces a future which must rewrite international 
codes and provide for positive enforcement of written 
pledges. The future cannot be safe under the belief 
that a treaty will hold when the result of the present 
day shows that the most sacred treaties may be re- 
garded as "scraps of paper" by an imperialist. The 
international law of the future must be backed by a 
sufficient armed force gathered from the combined 
resources of all the civilized nations, to make it 
almost a physical impossibility for any one nation, or 
combination of nations, to openly and flagrant- 
ly violate the edicts of mankind. This makes it 
necessary for each nation to prepare to defend itself 
against aggression. It is the armies of Switzerland 
that have prevented Germany, Austria, Italy or France 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 41 

from carrying the war into Swiss territory. The little 
republic is not strong enough to defeat a determined 
attack by any one of these powers, yet they all respect 
her inviolability for the reason that should one at- 
tempt to violate Swiss neutrality the others for self- 
protection would come to her rescue. What the atti- 
tude of the world would be toward the United States 
if we were adequately prepared to protect our rights 
cannot be misjudged. We would live in peace and 
our strength would be our greatest protection. 

New international laws must be drawn to regu- 
late the methods of aerial warfare. This comes from 
the fact that aviation, which is a distinctly twentieth 
century development, puts within the power of man 
the means of overcoming distances, terrestrial bar- 
riers and any physical restraint that has hitherto been 
compelling in its deterrent force against the raiding 
or invasion of one country by another. The Zeppelin 
raids of the present war constitute a method of attack 
too dastardly to tolerate in the future. It is the sense 
of all nations which retain their reason that such a 
use of a human invention cannot be given sanction. 
The nation that hereafter should attempt to use such 
a method in warfare would invite the immediate op- 
position of all other nations that claim to be civilized, 
or be put under such a penalty that the unrestricted 
use of dirigible air-craft would not be attempted. 
With heavier-than-air craft the same rules apply. The 
bombarding of undefended cities and towns and the 
destruction of merchant ships by bombs or torpedoes 
projected from air-craft cannot be tolerated. The re- 
vised international code will interdict such methods 
and uses of airships and the league of nations to 



42 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

enforce peace will be physically able to curb an of- 
fender. 

New laws regulating fighting on the high seas 
will be drawn so as to prohibit the unrestricted use 
of submarines. This will follow from the murderous 
methods that have been utilized in the present war. 
It is realized that no exigency can justify a nation 
disregarding the broader rules of humanity. The 
sinking of merchant ships and the killing of non- 
combatants, whether of belligerent or neutral national- 
ity, is too hideous a course for any nation to pursue 
and the common action of mankind will rule against 
it. On a par with the unrestricted use of submarines 
in what is known as a "war of frightfulness" is the 
bombarding of undefended coast towns by cruisers or 
other warships. This is as flagrant a violation of inter- 
national law and of the dictates of humanity as any 
that can be conceived. It has proven in practice to be 
wanton and utterly futile in its results. The bom- 
bardments along the North Sea coast of Great Britain 
have resulted in the killing of women and children 
and the destruction of houses, schools, hospitals and 
churches, and less than one armed combatant has been 
injured for every ninety-nine innocent lives that were 
sacrificed. The Zeppelin raids over London, Paris 
and other cities are classed in what may be termed 
the barbaric phases of the world war and international 
law in the future will be so written as to compel not 
the negative denunciation of such acts by neutrals, 
but the instant armed resistance of the peace league 
nations. 

The shelling of hospital ships, passenger ships 
plying between neutral and belligerent countries and 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 43 

all of the train of unrestricted acts of violence against 
non-combatants must be brought within the specific 
restrictions of the new code of laws. 

It is certain that in the amplification of the laws to 
regulate nations due provision must be made for the 
regulations under which naval or commercial sub- 
marine craft may enter neutral ports. This follows 
from the fact that the mechanical improvements in 
submarine structure make it possible for a submerged 
vessels, if permitted to act within the three-mile limit 
of the neutral shore, to conduct a careful study and 
inspection of the harbor protection, including mines, 
channels and other matters of military secrecy. It 
should certainly be the purpose of the revised inter- 
national code to effect an immunity zone surrounding 
any nation by water to at least a twelve-mile limit. 
This is due to the fact that the range of large guns 
now runs from 12 to 20 miles and when the old laws 
were adopted and the three-mile limit was set it con- 
templated three times the possible range of an enemy's 
guns. The twelve-mile limit would be a just revision. 

If this stipulation is embodied in the new inter- 
national laws it will put a large body of water between 
belligerent vessels and a neutral coast. The sub- 
marines or surface craft of any nation seeking entrance 
to a neutral port should be compelled to undergo in- 
spection and enter the neutral harbor under escort. 
No submarine should be permitted to enter any port 
except upon the surface and should not be permitted 
to submerge while in territorial waters. 

The revision of international laws must be more 
than reflective and must anticipate some of the things 
which modern invention makes certain will be turned 



44 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

into war instrumentalities in any future combat. One 
of these, is the operation and inspection of air-craft and 
the United States and other civiHzed nations should 
take quick action in passing laws prohibiting the land- 
ing of any aircraft upon their territory except under 
escort. Where this is found to be impracticable owing 
to weather conditions the landing of an air-craft with- 
in territorial limits must be followed by the internment 
of the craft and its crew for the term of the war. The 
possibilities of a fleet of airships, whether of the 
dirigible or plane type, effecting a landing in neutral 
territory, are such that they must be guarded against. 
The carrying capacity of airships is constantly being 
increased and a fleet of such ships could conceivably 
carry a considerable expeditionary force. This force, 
if permitted to land without violating international 
rules, might constitute a serious menace to a neutral 
territory and result in an expedition of such belligerent 
starting from neutral territory against an enemy. This 
would naturally involve the neutral and work a serious 
complication. The practice of visit by port officers 
which is imposed on sea surface vessels must be ex- 
tended to both submarine and air-craft and that this 
will limit their mobility is no argument against the 
necessity of mankind to see that this precaution is 
taken for the benefit of humanity. The safety of the 
crews of merchantmen and the safety of passengers 
must be re-asserted and re-established on the penalty 
of instant ostracism of any nation that violates these 
dictates for personal advantage. 

Strict revision of the international laws relating 
to the care of prisoners of war must be provided and 
neutral nations must feel it incumbent upon them- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 45 

selves to do more than wait inertly for the termination 
of the war, when flagrant violations are enacted by 
belligerents. The use of prisoners for the purpose of 
doing military duty for an enemy is one of the glaring 
crimes of the present world war. The use of non- 
combatants, constituting women and children and the 
aged inhabitants of captured towns and cities, as a 
screen for moving forward soldiery, shows to what 
extent violations of law may be carried when weak 
and inefifective protests alone are made. 

The international law which will be built upon 
the experience of the present war will augment the 
rights of neutrals and rigidly confine the activities of 
belligerents. In the present war the rights of neutrals 
have been ruthlessly set aside and the entire world 
has been forced to participate actively or passively in 
the hostilities which have been destroying life and 
property to an almost boundless extent. 

The covenants of the international peace treaty 
that must ultimately be signed at the close of the 
present world war must contain provisions for safe- 
guarding the world against a recurrence of militarism 
in its abandoned forms. War, if it must come again, 
should be held within strict bounds. The right of the 
inhabitants of the world as a whole to live in peace 
is paramount to the narrow privileges which a segment 
of the whole may be pleased to strive for through the 
arbitrament of war. When a question arises which 
cannot be settled by a peace conference and through 
arbitration, those who wish to throw down the gage 
of war must be held to account and forced to keep 
their fighting within their own territory or so re- 
stricted as to minimize and not magnify the suflferings 



46 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

of the neutral world. They must, under all circum- 
stances,, be forced to employ only such means of 
destruction and utilize such methods of warfare as do 
not run counter to the international code to which they 
were party prior to their entry into a state of war. 

The declaration of war zones must be rigidly re- 
stricted and the open seas must be held as positively 
immune from the wanton activity of either air-craft, 
surface-craft or submarines, as directed against neu- 
trals or enemy non-combatants. The nations that go 
to war in the future must be compelled to fight with 
clean hands and confine their movements against their 
enemy's lands and property and in this event be curbed 
by the power of international law as agreed upon by 
the nations forming the league of peace. When it is 
shown that a nation has violated the code, then all the 
neutral nations must withdraw their representatives 
and make the offender a common foe and outcast and 
subject to immediate suppression. 

Nations must be made to realize that they are 
not above the law of humanity and the comity of the 
world. 

The United States must take the initiative in 
asking all other powers to join in the universal peace 
compact. This does not have to be so restrictive in 
its purpose as to destroy nationalities or attempt the 
re-moulding of humanity. Each nation must be called 
upon to give a pledge of good behavior and to partici- 
pate in a peace armament that will include a majority 
of its prime units of naval and land strength to be used 
as an international mobile force. The Grand Army and 
Navy of ITumanity should comprise a composite of all 
of the units of the leading nations. This would make for 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 47 

tlie universal brotherhood and ultimate world peace 
and is feasible for the Entente Powers show that 
nations of varying types and racial antipathies can be 
brought to act in perfect concert. The Allies embrace 
Englishmen, Scotchmen, Welshmen, Irishmen, Cana- 
dians, New Zealanders, Australian colonists, natives 
of India, the native and Caucasian inhabitants of 
Africa, Russians, Frenchmen, Italians, Japanese, Bel- 
gians, Portuguese, Servians, Roumanians, Greeks and 
the Americans who constitute the foreign legion. 
Under one banner all have fought for a common union 
and are working for what they believe to be the salva- 
tion of mankind. They are fighting what they are 
sure will result in being the victorious battle for 
humanity. 

We have joined the Legions of Justice and the 
weight of our arms and the power of our moral influ- 
ence must be made to count to the fullest extent in re- 
establishing peace. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHEMISTRY IN WAR. 

Modern chemistry has played the dominant part 
in the present war. High explosives have done their 
part in changing the tactics which all the military 
authorities among both belligerents have exercised in 
their efforts to secure victory. The initial invasion of 
Belgium by Germany, with its enormous siege guns, 
proved that high explosive projectiles could, within a 
few hours' time, demolish what were thought to be 
impregnable fortresses. Forts capped with armor plate 
cupolas proved to have no lasting resistance against 
the demolishing projectiles from the 42-centimetre 
siege guns. With almost the same irresistible forward 
movement of a steam-roller the huge German artillery 
passed over Belgium and the northern fringe of France. 
The same experience was repeated in the siege of 
Lemberg and later in the war by the Russians in their 
capture of other Austro-Hungarian strongholds. Again 
the Germans proved the invincibility of modern high 
explosive projectiles in the capture of Warsaw and 
its surrounding forts. 

In 1916 the world was startled by the terrific 
character of the bombardment of Verdun. Several of 
the forts surrounding this bulwark of the French bor- 
der and the key to Paris from Northern France were 



AMEmCAN MINUTE MEN 49 

shattered by the concentrated fire of the German guns. 
The explosives used were not ordinary gunpowder, 
as this has been understood in past wars. It was the 
product of new chemical discoveries and consisted 
chiefly of gun cotton. This form of explosive has now 
become so generally adapted to the work of modern 
warfare that the Entente Allies placed cotton on the 
contraband list so as to prevent Germany and the 
other Teutonic Allies from securing this indispensable 
article of which the United States produces over 
seventy per cent. 

When the world became hardened to the stories 
of sieges and the withering effect of concentrated ar- 
tillery fire, it received a shock by the announcement 
that the Germans had invented a poisonous gas and 
were using it on the western front against the English 
and French soldiers in the trenches. 

The novelty of this form of attack struck the civ- 
ilized world with horror and at first it was put down 
as another German atrocity. In this connection it 
may be stated that the Teutonic Allies were well with- 
in their rights in using asphyxiating gases in war 
against the armed forces of an enemy. Nothing short 
of maudlin sentimentality could make a real soldier 
whimper at being attacked by any form of death- 
dealing instrument or element. 

After suffering several serious setbacks from their 
inability to cope with the asphyxiating gases that 
rolled across their trenches, the English and French 
military officials, aided by chemists, contrived to meet 
the new agency of death by the adoption of trench 
masks. These protected the mouth and nostrils so 
that the choking fumes of the gas, as it rolled over 



50 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

the trenches, did not prove fatal to the defenders 
The next step was for the Entente Allies to recognize 
the new ' method of fighting and to adopt gas and 
liquid fire as retaliatory means of offense and defense. 
Now all the battling armies are equipped to use gas 
waves and fire, and are accustomed to repelling as- 
saults following the release of the gas and, themselves, 
projecting assaults on the enemy by this method. 

It is a tribute to chemistry to know that the oper- 
ation of wireless, the propulsion of motors and the 
use of electric batteries are all a part of modern chem- 
istry. Other weapons of modern warfare would be 
useless were it not for the ingenuity and deep re- 
search made by chemists in perfecting explosive en- 
gines, storage batteries and in producing gases for the 
inflation of observation balloons. 

In the third year of the great world war,' the com- 
batants, as well as the world in general, have become 
accustomed to strange manifestations of human en- 
ergy. The shelling of an enemy's position and even 
of undefended cities and important manufacturing 
works by explosive bombs dropped from airships is 
one of the hideous necessities of war. This has re- 
sulted in killing many innocent people and is being 
resorted to sparingly by the Entente Allies and only 
in such cases where a reprisal is made compulsory, but 
no atrocities of the Zeppelin type have been perpe- 
trated. 

All of the reports from the battle-fronts show 
that the operations of the sappers and miners are 
being carried out on a grander scale than was ever 
before attempted. Mining and counter-mining and 
the laying of torpedoes underground ready to be set 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 51 

offby an electric spark controlled from great distances 
to the rear form part of the daily routine of modern 
war. 

In applying the lessons of the world war to 
America, it is safe to say that we are not likely to be 
forced to guard against assault from field armies where 
asphyxiating gases can be resorted to. An enemy must 
have his own country immediately back of him for 
endless supplies of the necessary ingredients for mak- 
ing gas in quantities sufficient to flood trenches, and 
this cannot be accomplished through a service that 
necessitates traveling over 3,000 miles of water on our 
Atlantic coast and from 5,000 to 10,000 miles on the 
Pacific. Our military instruction, however, should in- 
clude the theory of protecting soldiers in the trenches 
against such an attack and full instructions how to 
retaliate in kind to guard our own land and to make 
our soldiers competent to employ this agency if obliged 
to engage in battle in foreign territory. 

With the wonderful development that has been 
made in chemistry in the United States in the past 
two and one-half years our chemical works are now 
reaching a point of development where they can make 
this country completely independent of foreign supply. 
In the matter of high explosives we are producing the 
necessary heavy chemicals in sufficient quantity to 
supply the Allies with hundreds of millions of dollars 
worth of material and if necessity demanded our own 
army and navy could be superabundantly cared for on 
instant call. 

It is shown that the use of gas in warfare has in- 
tensified the value of airships. Where foot soldiers, 
cavalry and artillery in fixed positions are subject to 



52 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

the destructive power of bombs and gas waves, the 
alert, mobile and elusive airship can pass over the 
enemy's lines and make the gas and explosives utterly- 
ineffectual as a defensive means. At the same time 
airships will be able to use bombs, liquid fire, darts 
and aerial torpedoes with telling effect. So it will be 
seen that chemistry dominates all branches of military 
activity. 

When the warring nations gather in their peace 
conference at the conclusion of the present war, it is 
an open question whether they will vote to abolish 
the use of gas and other chemical contrivances in war- 
fare. This would be robbing the peace-loving ma- 
jority of the right to use a most potential instru- 
mentality. It would be on a par with announcement 
that the officers of the law in a city were disarmed 
and that the criminal element in the city were per- 
mitted to go fully armed. 

In the United States it is most essential that some 
of the important chemical works that are being drawn 
upon to supply the army and navy shall be located at 
points distant from our coast and borders, so that no 
sudden attack could result in their destruction. This 
has already been provided for by the foresight of a fev/ 
private concerns that have gone into the interior states 
for sites for their modern plants. It is fortunate that 
this country is so distinctly a manufacturing and in- 
dustrial power, for it gives the chemical, dyestufiFs and 
drug trades an opportunity to find a market for their 
products in times of peace and does not limit their 
activities to producing materials for war. Among the 
drugs and heavy chemicals that are chiefly used for 
explosives and in the production of miscellaneous 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 53 

munitions essential for war America is capable of 
being self-sustaining. 

Authorities in the industry assert that our present 
production is sufficient to provide for the needs of the 
United States under any circumstances and that pro- 
duction can be increased with present facilities so as to 
provide for uninterrupted supply for our export trade, 
as well as for taking care of our domestic commercial 
and military needs. An adequate after war protective 
tariff must be imposed to hold this advantage. 



CHAPTER V. 

RADIO CONTROL IN MODERN WARFARE. 

There is no branch of science that has made more 
rapid strides within the past twenty years than that 
connected with electricity and its application to the 
transmission of messages by telephone, telegraph and 
wireless. The world is now girdled by wires and cir- 
cled by wireless waves, carrying man's* messages. 
Another very radical and important development in 
electrical science is that of radio control. One of the 
essential departments of modern warfare is that con- 
nected with intelligence. This requires the use of field 
telephones, both wire and wireless ; regular wireless 
connection and all of the methods of physical signal- 
ling that have been developed throughout the ages. 
Of them all radio control is the most important. 

In the war which involves millions of men and 
covers vast areas giving in some instances a battle 
line of from 1,000 to 1,200 miles front, such as that 
running from Riga to the Black Sea, every character 
of ground is encountered and every feature of war is 
developed. Communications must be maintained by 
resort to all devices and appliances. 

For this reason the modern army and naval 
officers are giving close attention to the question 
of electricity and its direct application to their 
undertakings. They find that Waves transmitted 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 55 

by wireless telephone and by raido are the ideal 
methods. 

It now appears that the electric wave in the years 
to come is to be made one of the determining factors 
in war. This imposes upon a nation which occupies 
a prime position the necessity of developing this 
agency to its utmost capacity. 

Radio activity in war will be utilized by nations 
that seek aggrandizement on land or sea in the 
next war or, it may be, in the continuation of the 
present. Those who are interested and vitally involved 
in effecting a world peace must, themselves, provide 
an adequate means for using radio energy and in com- 
batting its use by their enemies. 

We find that the cross comes down to us as the 
symbol of Christianity, but that it was originally the 
Roman means for inflicting capital punishment and 
corresponds to our gallows and electric chair; the 
guillotine of France or the headsman's axe of Great 
Britain. The world has adopted the cross as the sign 
of Christianity which stands in direct antithesis to 
murder and arbitrary power. 

So in the future the sign or symbol of the Inter- 
national Peace League might well be that of the sheaf 
of sparks indicative of electricity and suggestive of 
the higher development of man's control of nature 
by radio wave. Today radio is an agency of destruc- 
tion. But if it is symbolized and used by the united 
world against a state which reverted to individual bar- 
barism, it will be paying just tribute to science. It is 
certain that the wars of the future must be fought and 
won more by the use of scientific means- than by in- 
dividual conflict between combatants. 



56 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

If it were not for the fact that the present war 
is one primarily of scientific development the mortality 
lists would be still more horrifying than they are. But 
for the fact that high power projectiles and air-craft 
spread the battle lines of armies apart until the siege 
guns of the combatants are from eight to twelve miles 
back of their own first line trenches, the day's toll in 
dead and wounded would be staggering. It is the 
exception when there is only a narrow strip of 
land separating foes. The usual battle lines have 
been forced miles apart by the hands of science. 

As it is, statistics show that considering the num- 
ber of men engaged, the mortality and casualties are 
smaller in the present war than in the past. The 
greatest slaughter on battlefields has occurred when 
men met face to face with sword and shield to fight 
from sunrise to sunset in individual, mortal combat. 

It is, therefore, well for the United States to bend 
every possible effort to the development of radio con- 
trol of torpedoes, air-craft, mines and for the detonat- 
ing of magazines in approaching ships and in the forts 
of the enemies. War is strictly a business of ex- 
terminating the armed forces of an opponent and any 
instrumentality that can be used for this purpose is 
legitimate. The heavier the blows and the greater 
the destruction of the enemy, the quicker is peace se- 
cured. 

It is because the Teutonic Allies have lost sight 
of the fact that war must be waged between the armed 
torces of nations and have turned their engines ot 
destruction upon non-combatants and neutrals, that 
the hideous' records of the past two years have been 
scored and stand as a blot against the human race. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN. ^7 

The nations of the world that join in the peace 
compact must take every precaution to prevent the 
unchecked use of radio mechanisms just as they nov\' 
police their cities, towns and territories to suppress 
individual vandalism and crime. When the prim.e 
nations of the world and their lesser associates join in 
a peace league it will be proper to enforce, as one of 
its requirements, that no military use be made of radio 
control by individual nations and that this instru- 
mentality be entirely limited to the defensive use ot 
the league. 

Any evidence showing that a nation was secretly 
evolving plans for the use of military mechanisms 
based on radio controlled waves would be sufficient 
to bring drastic action from the peace league. Now 
is the time for the peace-loving nations to frame such 
international laws as will prevent any militant 
nation from placing itself in control of the radio wave- 
as this is destined to be one of the world's greatest 
military weapons. 

Those who are investigating and making the clos- 
est scientific research and experimentation with elec- 
tricity declare that it is perfectly feasible for a radio 
station to control the movements of submerged tor- 
pedoes, surface torpedoes or light draught surface 
ships and move miniature submarines. Radio, it is de- 
clared, is capable of use in the air. It will soon be 
possible for air-craft, scientists announce, to be pro- 
pelled and guided and their offensive armament used 
by control from land, for great distances from a cen- 
tral station. 

When the unusual developments of the past fifty 
vears are considered it will be seen that the statesman- 



58 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

ship of the early Nineteenth Century did not compre- 
hend the possibilities that were latent in electricity. 
Nothing- has been written in our international laws 
that properly curbed or controlled the use of trans- 
oceanic cables for transmitting messages from one 
continent to another; nor for the control of the tele- 
graph, telephone and more recently of wireless trans- 
mission. 

Now the futile efforts of a nation to prevent the 
inter-communication of its enemies is seen in the daily 
messages that are flashed from the Eififel Tower in 
Paris across Belgium and Germany to Russia. Ger- 
man science is impotent to check or intercept the 
messages passed through the air in defiance of edicts 
and imprecations. 

Great Britain has moved her navies on all the 
oceans and on all the seas of the world with as much 
ease as a player would shift men on a chess-board, 
because of the complete development of wireless com- 
munication and uninterrupted cable service. The 
progress of the world in this regard has had no more 
striking illustration than in the facts that Japan de- 
clared war upon Germany by a cable message and the 
United States notified Germany of the severance of 
our diplomatic relations by this modern agency. 

How different from the methods of the past when 
ambassadors were returned to their native lands and 
months elapsed before the slow-moving galleys or the 
fickle-moving sailing ships returned from the lands of 
an enemy to bring the message that war had been de- 
clared. 

The instant declaration of war which can now be 
transmitted through ether imposes upon every nation 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 59 

the necessity for quick defense . Applying this to the 
United States it makes obligatory the development of 
our army and navy and our resources; it compels us 
to seek an intensive development of scientific methods 
for protection and offense in common with the peace- 
loving nations. 

The world must be re-organized to prevent any 
nation again perfecting methods of warfare over 
periods of years and increasing its armament to in- 
ordinate degree. This must be accomplished by the 
enforcement of a rotary staff of officers representing 
the high contracting nations. The interchange of com- 
manders and the staffs and the minute investigation 
of the plans, equipment and personnel of the several 
nations should make impossible the surreptitious and 
intensive development of armed forces by any nation 
or group of nations. 

This will be the basis upon which ultimate world 
peace will depend. Mankind is not ready for the 
drastic step of immediate disarmament of all nations, 
which a few men are united in declaring would be the 
wise course to follow. An international peace league 
offers the practical alternative. 

Any nation refusing to extend the privilege of a 
full and free examination of Its armed forces would 
at once awaken the suspicion of the peace nations and 
would be forced to comply in the same manner that 
a felon is now compelled to obey the civil law of the 
community in which he lives. When he is apprehended 
he is made to pay the penalty for his crime. 

The united desire of the 1,500,000,000 inhabitants 
of the world to live in peace and tranquility and to 
form a universal peace league must be recognized as 



60 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

paramount to any personal wish or aim of an indi- 
vidual monarch or of a nation to secure greater power 
and to exercise unrestricted force. Radio control, 
which is now one of the world's most ominous agen- 
cies, may become its ultimate salvation ; so it be- 
hooves the United States to acquire proficiency in its 
use while the world is still seething in unchecked 
carnage. We will use our power for our own safety 
and the freedom of the world. 



CHAPTER VI. 

ORGANIZATION OF UNITED STATES ARM^ 
ON MODERN BASIS. 

After sifting all of the plans which have been 
made by members of the military committees of the 
House of Representatives and the Senate, by the gen- 
eral staff of the army, by the army college and by 
state militia officials and writers on military affairs, 
it would be difficult for an unprejudiced citizen to 
arrive at any clear conception of what the needs of 
this country really are from the standpoint of an 
armed force. 

Aggregate demands for an army of two million 
men with a reserve of three million, giving to the 
United States a total in its army of five million, ex- 
presses one extreme ; another proposes a puny army 
of one hundred thousand — not enough to guard our 
posts and protect our borders. This is the idea of the 
pacifists, who believe that peace on earth is an accom- 
plished fact. 

The experience of the great world war has shown 
that not only the belligerents, but nations in Europe 
that have succeeded in keeping out of the actual con- 
flict, have all been firmly established for generations 
on the basis of universal training or its equivalent. 

The immunity of Switzerland from being rushed 
into the war on the side of the Allies or the Teutonic 



62 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Alliance is due to its compact and efficient army and 
the instant mobilization in 1914 to withstand invasion. 

In the instance of Switzerland it may be noted 
that it is a nation without a navy and its whole de- 
pendence must be put upon its army. For more than 
a thousand years the valor of Swiss armies has been 
proverbial and the little Republic clinging to the Alps 
has been menaced by surrounding empires that had 
ten to twenty times the army that could be mustered 
under the flag of Switzerland. 

That Holland has been able to retain its position 
of neutrality is one of the most remarkable incidents 
of the world war. Surrounded by nations that are in 
daily conflict both on land and sea, the dyke country 
has kept its German border and the line along Belgium 
which is now in possession of Germany inviolate so far 
as the large problems of neutrality are concerned. As 
to its sea coast Holland has adopted a vigorous and 
effective policy of interning any war vessels that enter 
her territorial waters for protracted stay. This has 
fallen heavily upon both belligerents. 

English and French naval vessels have been 
stranded on the Holland coast and numerous vessels 
of the German navy have either been towed into Hol- 
land ports for succor or have been interned where 
they have presumed to over-stay the prescribed time 
in the interdicted waters. 

Denmark, Norway and Sweden are examples of 
countries that are under the cloud of war, and still, 
because of their field armies and national military 
training policy, are saved from being dragged into 
active combat. 

With the United States the policy of our people 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 63 

is against large standing armies and we have always 
depended upon raising the necessary force to meet our 
enemies by a call for volunteers. This has been a 
problem which, if we put full credence in oui school 
history, was an easy affair; but which, in reality, re- 
sulted in the humiliating circumstances of forcing the 
republic to resort to drafting in order to get the neces- 
sary military force under arms in every war, except 
that with Spain in 1898. In the Civil War the need 
arose for drafting and the draft riots and injustices 
of bounty-jumping are a blemish on our history. 

To obviate all of these conditions and to place 
the United States in line with all others that claim to 
be in the first class, we should adopt the universal 
military training policy. 

Whether it will include youths from 19 to 21 who 
are physically fit for military service or whether the 
age will be at some other limit and the term of service 
will be one year or more are matters of detail. 
The manhood of this country demands that armies 
shall not be recruited from the gutters by puerile litho- 
graph appeals and cooing words from recruiting ser- 
geants, but that the stern duty of American citizen- 
ship shall be universally recognized and the necessary 
quota for our armed forces be raised by having all 
youths of a given age who are physically fit brought 
under military training. 

This would at once divest the military service 
problem of any sectionalism. The millionaire's son, 
as well as the son of the farmer, or the mechanic, the 
clerk or professional man, will one and all be brought 
under the orders of the flag to do their share in keep- 
ing America always efficient and always prepared to 



04 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

defend peace and thus assure the public against as- 
sault. 

Such organization of the army and navy should 
be made as to place on the active list those best 
suited to perform the necessary duties and all who 
undergo examinations and are found deficient in any 
requirements should be registered and held in a class, 
as ultimate reserves. 

These men should constitute a class, by taking a 
special oath of fealty to the nation and who would be 
specifically pledged against engaging in any act that 
can militate in any way against the Federal or State 
governments. This would make the entire manhood 
of the country subject to proper military supervision 
and still keep it free from irksome surveillance, which 
is the chief objection to the European system. 

Refusal on the part of any citizen to act, who is 
found eligible, would be treason and in any case of 
citizens not subject to active military service refusal 
to perform reasonable acts for the country would be 
seditious. 

By Federal enactment it could be provided that 
in time of war an immediate order for mobilization 
could go into automatic cfifect placing such citizens on 
land and all persons on the vessels of the United States 
under military jurisdiction. 

The mechanical organization of the United 
States army must undergo a decided change. The old 
formation of infantry regiments into twelve compa- 
nies with a quota of 108 officers and men, of which 
there are three commissioned officers, 12 non-commis- 
sioned officers and 93 riflemen, is as ineffective as 
would be an old-time Roman ])lialanx. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 65 

The massive field armies that have operated in 
Europe and the manoeuvers which have been under- 
taken called for formations where hundreds of thous- 
ands of men were used, where previously fifty to a hun- 
dred thousand men were regarded as a huge force. 

Modern means of communication, including mo- 
tors, railways, steamships, the instrumentalities of the 
telephone, telegraph and wireless extend a field of oper- 
ation until it spreads over hundreds of square miles and 
takes field armies from three to ten times as great as 
in the days when all armies had to move on their feet. 

The proper organization of the army should em- 
brace a new regimental field unit. This should include 
an organization of approximately five thousand men 
and include riflemen, cavalrymen, artillerymen, signal 
corps, medical corps, ordnance staff, commissary staff, 
aviation corps and transportation staff. The complete 
details of such an organization would require the tech- 
nical co-operation of all of the bureaus of the army 
with some of the interlocking bureaus of the navy and 
civilian reserve. 

In this book it is only necessary to point out 
that with an army unit constituted on the lines sug- 
gested above a force of five thousand men could move 
into action with a,ll of the branches of the service that 
are essential to protection, and to its assuming the 
ofFen^'ive. 

Today the military force is blind if it has not an 
efficient aerial contingent. It is dumb if it has not a 
properly equipped signal corps. It is halt if it has not 
a properly organized transportation equipment. A 
military force today taking the field is at the mercy 
of a properly equipped enemy if the riflemen who con- 



66 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

stitute the backbone of all armies are not supported by 
the mobile branch of an efficient quota of cavalrymen, 
and have not at their back a field artillery that is com- 
petent to throw the "curtain of fire" in front of the 
trenches and to project large calibre shells over their 
own lines and to the back lines of an enemy. 

All of these contingencies arise in every modern 
engagement and it is little short of murder to send an 
infantry regiment into action without the proper ac- 
companying support. 

In the old days we had military posts when we 
were conducting desultory warfare against the Indians, 
which called for no greater organization than efficient 
cavalry regiments and meagre infantry forces to man 
the army posts. Our forts located in and around such 
cities as Boston, New York, Newport, Chicago, Leav- 
enworth and the other armed posts have never pre- 
sented any features of what may be termed moaern 
army posts equipped in the same light as the enormous 
military establishments of Europe, 

There is no need for building up military centres 
in America and the proper development of our army 
should be to co-operate with state militia on our bor- 
ders and coasts, with the necessary field manoeuvering 
in the open country to give practice in large move- 
ments of brigades, divisions, army corps and grand 
army units. Such movements should test the commis- 
sary, transportation and military fitness of our regular 
army and the ability of state forces accommodating 
their actions to the regular army requirements. 

The requirements of modern warfare call for such 
quantities of ammunition of all kinds that the ques- 
tion of industrial preparedness is tantamount to that 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN ^o7 

of the mobilization of men. It has been shown that 
twice during the world war Russian victory was 
checked by the. lack of ammunition. The first tre- 
mendous drive that the Russian army made into Ger- 
many was abruptly checked by breakdown of their ord- 
nance department. This was due to the fact that 
Russia was not a manufacturing nation and could not 
procure munitions from any other source than Japan 
and this required transportation over the seven-thous- 
and-mile Trans-Siberian single-track railroad from 
Vladivostok. 

Again in 1916 the shortage of ammunition brought 
General Bressiloff's campaign in the Carpathian passes 
to a stop and prevented the complete crushing of 
Austria-Hungary. 

It is, therefore, necessary that the United States 
military officials should take into consideration the 
development of industrial plants capable of producing 
munitions in sufficient quantity to meet the require- 
ments of armies that might aggregate 5,000,000 men 
and of a navy that would be on a par with that of 
Great Britain. The feasible way of accomplishing this 
is by having a portion of the regular army engineering 
staff allotted to work in such industrial plants as are 
executing contracts for the Federal Government or for 
any State military organizations. 

The actual practice in operating in an industrial 
plant, not as an inspector, but as a producer, is some- 
thing which will far exceed any theoretical instruction 
which could be gotten in West Point or from dabblii.g 
in laboratories, or in making an occasional cursory 
survey through munition plants, powder works or fac- 
tories where the various accoutrements of the army are 



68 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

made. The lesson of the world war for America is 
thoroughness. Our army needs it, our navy needs it, 
our industries need it. We have drifted through f fty 
years of prosperity since the close of the Civil War 
without feeling the menace of attack from without and 
within our borders we have had peace. Practically 
two generations have been immune from military ser- 
vice. The episode of the Spanish-American War, 
which arose suddenly, February 15th, 1898, by the 
sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor, and 
which was virtually ended on July 4th, 1898, when 
Cevera's fleet was destroyed in Santiago harbor, Cuba, 
did not test the capability and temper of our people. 
Less than 300,000 men were under arms and our foe 
was incapable of offering serious resistance. 

We now find ourselves as a nation of 110,000,000, 
with an army so inadequate that the policing of our 
border required the President to call upon the State 
militia, and in the summer of 1916 100,000 citizen 
soldiers were taken from their proper fields of peace- 
ful activities to man our Rio Grande border against 
the furtive raids of a bandit. 

With an adequate continental army of from 300,- 
000 to 400,000 men, the United States would at all 
times be able to perform its own national duties and 
not be forced to call on the States for such service. 

Universal military service solves this problem by 
keeping the quota of eligible youths in the service at 
from 300,000 to 400,000, and as they pass from one or 
two years' service into the reserve, there would at all 
times be an adequate force subject to the instant call 
of the President of the United States as commander 
in-chief of the army. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 69 

It is necessary that in times of peace and, certainly 
beginning now, Americans should learn to co-operate 
as the stern necessities of war have compelled the 
European nations to do. The safety of farmers, min- 
ers, ranchmen and all those engaged in manufacturing 
is dependent upon their working in unison. Through 
co-operation the nation can be properly provided with 
the necessities of life during the war and our armed 
forces can be adequately served while a surplus can 
be created which will permit of our continuing our 
exports. Great Britain has demonstrated by her con- 
trol of the sea that a nation of less than 50,000,000 
people, when self-preservation is at stake, can bring 
to the support of the Government 5,000,000 volunteers 
and the mobilization of industrial forces so that this 
stupendous armed force can be made invincible and 
at the same time the daily wants of the nation can be 
safeguarded and the actual exports forced to an in- 
crease over times of peace. 

The toll in lives, in wounded, in money, to un- 
prepared Britannia has been staggering. 

With this example before the United States the 
chart for our plan of preparedness is plain. 

In place of having a disorganized and conflicting 
system of military service where regulars, militia and 
volunteers are thrown into jumbled combinations and 
where their officers have never before co-operated and 
where the tactics and manoeuvers employed are dis- 
similar and confusing, the armed land forces of the 
United States should all be brought under one control. 

Governors of our several States should represent 
the commanders-in-chief of the forces within their 
borders that represent the State militia forces subject 



70 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

strictly to State activity, the volunteer forces and the 
mobilization of the regular army reserves. This would 
give importance, power and immediate efficiency t) 
the proclamations of Governors and at the one call of 
the President all of the State executives would act 
simultaneously and without the delay incident upon 
individual initiative or the impeding action of State 
legislatures. One man power is essential in conduct- 
ing war. It is shown that the centralization of power 
in Europe by the appointment of a minister of muni- 
tions, a minister of food distribution and the various 
other ministerial heads, who are clothed with plenary 
power, immediately stops the chaos which follows in 
the trail of a declaration of war. 

By previous organization the proper men in each 
department of the army would be clothed with the 
authority to put certain rules into force and through 
having the Governors of the various States, the re- 
sponsible spokesmen for their States, under Federal 
commissions, a great mass of detail would be taken 
from the regular army staflF. 

The unification of commercial, financial and social 
organizations with the armed forces of the nation is a 
matter which must be evolved in time of peace, if 
disastrous confusion is to be avoided when the need 
for action arises. 

It is no longer possible for pacifists to proclaim 
that peace is universal and that no war will ever again 
devastate this or other countries. The dream of uni- 
versal peace is a commendable one to hold, but the 
realities of war have to be faced. America is essen- 
tially a nation of peace-loving citizens, whose charter 
is an institution granting freedom of thought and the 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 71 

pursuit of happiness as its cardinal principles. Such 
a nation which can right its own wrongs by the free 
vote of its people can never be a menace to itself or 
others. Its highest duty is not to sink into a state of 
efifeminacy or to remain as utterly unprepared as we 
are at present, but to face the future with manful 
courage, willing to pay the price in universal personal 
service and in money that will give us complete assur- 
ance from assault through adequate preparedness for 
defense. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES 
NAVY ON MODERN BASIS. 

There are certain facts before the American peo- 
ple regarding the navy which cannot be overlooked. 
Chief among these is that our system of recruiting for 
the service is inefiPective. We have vessels laid up 
because of our inability to get crews. We have ships 
building for which, when they are prepared to go into 
commission, there will be but a partial quota of men 
in readiness. With our nearly sixty thousand men in 
the personnel of the navy, we find that the operation 
of this department is impaired. We need more officers, 
more men. It is clear that with the programme of 
navy preparedness that has been approved by Con- 
gress and the further expansion of the service which 
is embodied in proposed bills, the status of our navy 
in the near future should be upon the basis of at least 
thirty thousand officers and one hundred and seventy 
thousand enlisted men. Universal service is the feas- 
ible method of recruiting for the navy as well as the 
army. A proportionate number of all eligibles should 
be selected for each branch of the service. 

Recruiting for a naval service that offers the re- 
markable advantages that appertain to the U. S. navy 
should not be an insuperable task. The service should 
be made attractive to live, ambitious, free-thinking 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 73 

"American youths and to accomplish this it should in- 
clude courses of instruction adapted to all men in the 
service. Those who care to take up technical courses 
should be encouraged, but, one and all, the men of the 
navy should be given some manual or scientific course 
of instruction so that the time spent in serving the 
nation would be doubly improved. 

It is now clear in the minds of all men who are 
viewing the position of the United States in its proper 
light, that our mercantile marine must be increased. 
There is no better school in which to train men for 
the mercantile service than in our navy. Men would 
come from an enlistment in the navy thoroughly dis- 
ciplined as seamen, properly instructed in the matters 
of physical hygiene, benefited by world travel and, 
through vocational instruction, equipped with a trade 
or profession to depend upon in entering civil life. 
Attractive positions will be open for all who pass into 
the reserve from the navy if our mercantile fleets are 
increased, as necessity now seems to make sure will 
be the case. Great Britain in 1914 had four thousand 
merchant ships, supported by four hundred naval ves- 
sels. There is our guide. 

Our laws should be so shaped as to make the navy 
the school for all young men who seek the sea as a 
means of livelihood. In place of feeling that two or 
three years' service in the navy is a task or time but 
poorly occupied, it should be regarded as next to the 
prize of being appointed to Annapolis, to which the 
youth of the country from all States, inland as well as 
coastal, w^ould have free opportunity to serve the coun- 
try and acquire valuable instruction. 

Our navigation laws should be so adjusted as to 



74 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

make it possible for us to build a great commercial 
fleet, because this is the backbone of a navy. The ex- 
periences in the present world war show that Great 
Britain's sea supremacy rests largely upon her mer- 
chant ships and the shipping from other countries that 
she can command, through the protection of her high 
sea fleets of battleships. If it were not for the endless 
supply of food, munitions and general merchandise 
that keeps pouring into the British Isles, and to her 
allies from the ships that fly the British merchant flag 
and the thousands of neutral ships that make her ports, 
the English navy could not continue its blockade of 
the North Sea, for the necessities of existence for the 
island empire would force an ignominious peace. 

The history of naval conflict from the earliest ages 
down to the present has been one that has shown in 
every instance that as a complement to the armed 
ships of a nation there must be an adequate number 
of merchant ships. 

We need in the reorganization of the United 
States Navy a more sympathetic feeling between naval 
officers and mercantile marine officers. It is one funda- 
mental weakness of our service that naval officers are 
inclined to stand aloof from civilians. This should be 
rectified by having each navy yard and station open 
as a school for navigation and for instruction in ship- 
building and citizens permitted to enter classes of in- 
struction, and come under the teaching of commis- 
sioned officers. In such schools, conducted under the 
guidance of the Federal Government, the State naval 
reserve officers should also participate, so that they, 
too, could imbibe naval instruction from officers of the 
line and in turn be better equipped to instruct those 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 75 

under their immediate command. There should be a 
more strenuous effort made to attract recruits to the 
navy until such time as universal service systematically 
furnishes the proper quota. 

Throughout the country educational and voca- 
tional courses in many lines of business are obtainable 
at a moderate fee and lecture courses are given that 
help to prepare men for advancement in life. These 
should serve as the model for the naval instruction 
schools. 

In this Republic there is no such thing as a mili- 
tary class or as a ruling class. We are a united people 
and our officers in whatever branch of service should 
be glad of an opportunity to "rub shoulders" with their 
fellow citizens. It must not be forgotten that Peter 
the Great assumed the humble position of a ship car- 
penter and learned the trade of shipbuilding before 
he assumed the duty of leading the Russian Empire 
to its greatest triumphs. 

The basis upon which the navy should be organ- 
ized is that of a modern high sea unit. This requires 
that the complement of ships in a given unit shcttld 
include prime battleships of the dreadnaught type, bat- 
tleships, battle-cruisers, scout-cruisers, torpedo boat 
destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, colliers, mine 
layers, mine sweepers, miscellaneous harbor craft, in- 
cluding floating dry docks, cranes, tank ships, troop 
ships, hospital ships, supply ships, repair ships, hydro- 
plane fleet and tenders. 

Such a fleet would bi^". complete in itself ii stationed 
in Boston, New York, Chesapeake Bay, Key West, 
Panama Canal, San Francisco, Manila, or at any other 
of our naval stations or vital points of defense. 



76 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Such a development of the navy is along the lines 
of common sense that would be followed by the exec- 
utives, of an industrial organization. They would not 
think of having a factory located in San Francisco for 
the manufacture of a product and find that, after spend- 
ing several million dollars for the site and buildings 
and the installation of the machinery, there was 
no supply of the raw material needed by them to pro- 
duce their finished product. 

This is comparable with the situation which arises 
in the navy when the naval committees in the House 
and Senate pass appropriations and authorize Secre- 
taries of the Navy to build first line battleships and 
other vessels on a disproportionate programme. We 
have as the sad result of this chaotic method of naval 
development that has been followed for fifty years, a 
navy which, while excellent in its individual units, is 
incapacitated from performing the duties of a high sea 
fleet, because of lack in many essentials of equipment, 
shortage of men and navy yard facilities. 

To have a score or more of major battleships 
leave our harbor imaccompanied by the necessary 
minor vessels for protection and for maintenance is as 
much an evidence of incapacity as the case of the manu- 
facturer who builds his plant and equips it only to 
find that he cannot produce goods for lack of material. 
We are told by experts that much of our naval ap- 
propriations are spent on types of ships which do not 
meet modern requirements. Again we are told that 
the armament we use is not the kind approved 
by modern experience in the great navies of the 
world. 

In the last analysis it seems to be the sensible 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 77 

thing for the members of the House and Senate and 
the naval officials, including the Secretary of the Navy, 
to determine upon a definite plan of development and 
aim at a result which will give us a series of complete 
naval units, in sequence, and discontinue the policy of 
haphazard addition to the navy. It would be better to 
have two or three units than to have a scattered equip- 
ment that in no one spot was capable of reaching full 
efficiency. 

Associated with the actual construction of ships 
is the important matter of harbor defenses and harbor 
approaches. It is fruitless to build a great naval vessel 
at a cost of from S10,000,000 to $15,000,000, or to pro- 
pose, as has been done, the building of a mammoth 
ship of 80,000 tons, three times the size of any naval 
ship afloat and to cost $50,000,000, when there is not a 
single harbor in the United States or in any of our pos- 
sessions where such a ship could enter or where it could 
be accommodated for repairs. This is a frantic effort 
at accomplishing naval supremacy on paper, but it does 
not strike the mark. 

The need of the United States is as urgent for a 
mercantile marine as it is for warships, and just as in 
our naval service our development has been lopsided, 
so in the matter of mercantile craft, our aim has been 
for fast mail and passenger steamers. These are the 
glittering examples that flatter our pride and there- 
fore appeal to our imagination. The backbone of the 
mercantile service is the modest freighter of from 5 to 
15 tons capacity. Supplementing these must be col- 
liers, supply ships, tank ships, floating dry docks, re- 
pair ships, hospital ships and the minor flotilla of tugs, 
scout ships, mine sweepers and miscellaneous harbor 



78 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

craft attached to the Naval Reserve, as distinguished 
from the vessels of the navy. 

It seems incomprehensible that the United States, 
now the greatest export nation in the world and with 
a population of more than 110,000,000, who are the 
greatest earners and spenders in the world, should be 
totally unprepared to handle our own international 
carrying service. 

One of the requirements of the United States 
navy is that it shall be able at any time to send one or 
more invincible high isea fleets into action to protect 
our insular possessions or to vindicate our position as 
a prime nation by convoying our merchantmen or 'car- 
rying war to our enemies. To accomplish this the 
navy must be standardized and its equipment must be 
complete. To read the voluminous records of the de- 
partment and to find that we have navy yards that are 
so far behind in equipment that they could not be 
used to repair a modern ship, having neither dry docks, 
cranes or other necessary machinery for handling 
modern armament, seems incredible. Yet it is the 
truth. 

The requirements of the present era make it 
necessary for nations that have heretofore drift^^^d 
along the quiet waters of peaceful commerce, indif- 
ferent to the action of European nations and Asiatic 
nations, to assume positions of great naval strength. 
We must as the chief peace-loving nation of the world 
make our navy something more than the great white 
fleet that has pleased our eyes in our harbors on gala 
occasions, but which we know is made partially in- 
capable of effective action by reason of ill-advised de- 
velopment. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 79 

The great battles on sea that have been fought 
m the past have been won by the nations that were 
in possession of the strongest fleets of merchant ships 
and which had an adequate and well-balanced naval 
service. Leadership has passed from Greece to Italy, 
from Italy to Spain, from Spain to Portugal, from 
Portugal to Holland, from Holland to Great Britain. 
In the matter of 3,000 years the ships that sail the 
seas developed from canoes and galleys to sailing ves- 
sels, coal burners, oil burners and now the latest de- 
velopment is the electric-driven type. During the past 
thousand years Great Britain has striven tor navil 
supremacy and for 300 years has enjoyed the distinc- 
tion of being the greatest naval power in the world. 

Our position in the matter of geographical loca- 
tion and natural resources makes it possible for the 
United States to speedily develop a mercantile marine 
and to construct a navy on lines that will bring us 
lasting independence in the matter of world trade and 
place us on an equality with or second only to the 
British Empire in the matter of naval power and mer- 
cantile importance. 

Such an accomplishment cannot be attained it 
there is any lack of co-operation between the navy, 
our legislative departments, the Chief Executive or the 
citizens who engage in mercantile marine service as a 
means of livelihood. Any Congressman, Senator or 
citizen who wishes to be convinced that the methods 
which have prevailed for the past fifty years in relation 
to our navy and mercantile marine are ill-advised can 
get the evidence by checking up the number of officers 
in the navy, the number of enlisted men, the number 
of officers in the mercantile service, under United 



80 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

States registry, the number of men in this service, and 
comparing them with the personnel represented by the 
other leading nations ; and by considering the tonnage 
that is carried to and from American ports in domestic 
ships and that under foreign flags. When it is seen 
that we carry less than 9 per cent of our trade, the truth 
will be impressively learned. Our navy is inadequate 
to assume the duties that would fall upon it in the 
event of the United States resuming a dominant posi- 
tion as an ocean-carrying nation. The citizen or pub- 
lic official who will check up the ships that now con- 
stitute our navy and attempt to form them into high 
sea fleets in modern units with the necessary quota 
of all types of vessels and capable of finding harborage 
and safety in various stations, will see that steps must 
be taken during the present session of Congress to have 
our navy plans revised. There is no politics in this and 
the only opposition Qould come from those who are 
unfriendly to the United States and opposed to it- 
becoming a nation prepared to regain peace through 
a capacity to conduct war for national defense. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ORGANIZATION OF NAVAL RESERVE. 

When the German government announced an ex- 
tended war zone to become effective February Ist, 
1917, and informed the neutral w^orld that "all ships 
entering the barred zone would be subject to sinkiiuj 
without notice and without provision for the safety of 
passengers and crew," the last recognition of interna- 
tional law in its relation to sea transportation vanished. 
Nations had the alternative of acquiescing to the dicta- 
tion of Germany and interning their merchant ships 
or of running the danger of loss of life and of ves- 
sels by entering the barred sea zone. 

The arming of merchant vessels is a matter that 
is within the power of nations under the international 
law as it existed August 1, 1914, and any nation may 
exercise the privilege of placing defensive guns upon 
merchant ships without their losing the status of ships 
of commerce. After due consideration of the situation. 
President Wilson, on March 9, 1917, declared that un- 
der executive authority he would provide guns and 
gunners for American merchant ships, and thus up- 
hold our rights, by means of armed neutrality. 

As the situation affected the United States more 
seriously than any other neutral nation, it has intensi- 
fied our interest in the matter of a naval reserve. 

Unfortunately this country had permitted its ship- 



82 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

ping to decline to such a point that less than nine per 
cent, of merchandise leaving and entering our ports 
was carried in ships of American registry in 1914. We 
now are in even worse straits. We find ourselves 
without an adequate force of seamen and navigators 
and a reserve of men familiar with seafaring. Such a 
body of men could not be drawn from our farms. 
The country no longer stands in a prominent place 
among the shipping nations of the world, and we have 
not properly educated any large percentage of our 
youth in the ways of the sea. 

The only approximation we have had to training 
for our youths in matters relating to the navy and to 
the handling of ships has been through our naval re- 
serve in a few coast States. 

This organization has been of a patriotic order, 
representing volunteers who joined the service to learn 
under serious restrictions what they could of naval 
military tactics, seamanship, harbor and coast defense. 

The naval reserve in its personnel is high and all 
of the officers and enlisted men are worthy of the es- 
teem of their countrymen, but they lack the training 
which can only come from actual service on the high 
seas. Now that it is shown the United States needs 
an increased mercantile marine and a larger force In 
its navy, a logical step is to build up the naval reserve 
by recruiting from interior States as well as to call 
for enlistments from the States bordering on our 
coasts. 

Schools of naval instruction should be established 
in all of our leading cities and particular effort should 
be made to get recruits from centers such as Chicago, 
St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver and the principal cities 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 83 

in all of the States in the Mississippi Valley and in the 
Northwest and Southwest. 

The defense of America is a matter of national 
importance and it should be viewed as a patriotic duty. 
State lines should vanish when a question affecting 
the welfare of the nation is involved, and if the naval 
reserve is expanded so as to provide nautical instruc 
tion to our youth under desirable terms, recruits should 
be secured from every county in every State in the 
Union. It has been said with a smile of derision, if 
not scorn, that the United States has become a nation 
of "land lubbers." How well this appellation fits can 
be judged from the fact that it is estimated from the 
records of vital statistics and from carefully kept 
records of insurance companies and employment 
bureaus, that less than one per cent, of the entire 
native-born population of the United States has ever 
stepped upon the deck of a sea-going vessel or been 
outside the three-mile limit on our coasts. 

Seventy per cent, of our population, it is esti- 
mated, has never seen either the Atlantic or Pacific 
oceans or the great expanse of water in the Gulf of 
Mexico. In other words, their nautical experience has 
been limited to crossing rivers and dabbling in fishing- 
ponds. 

How different was the situation in 1776 when 
with a population of only three millions of people, 
ninety-five per cent, lived along our Atlantic seacoast 
and they or their immediate ancestors had crossed the 
Atlantic Ocean in frail sailing vessels to reach this 
new asylum of liberty. 

In 1861, of the 30,000,000 of people constituting 
the United States before the outbreak of the Civil War, 



84 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

seventy-five per cent, still lived within easy reach of 
our Atlantic coast. 

In 1917, with 110,000,000 of people, less than thirty 
per cent, live along our ocean fronts, and of these, 
owing to the constant decline in our shipping, merely 
an insignificant percentage follows the sea for a living. 
When it is considered that of our total native-born 
population less than one per cent, has ever been on the 
ocean either as sailors or as passengers, the pitiable 
situation of the United States as a maritime nation can 
be realized. 

At the conclusion of the world war it is no longer 
a question of doubt that the several belligerents will 
conduct their trade with other nations according to 
agreements which will favor themselves and their al- 
lies in proportion to the shipping facilities each pos- 
sesses. We must make a fair showing. 

We are unprepared to care for our own foreign 
shipping. No effort that patriotic citizens can make 
at the present time and continue to exert can be too 
strenuous in the matter of awakening interest in ship- 
ping. The naval reserve should be brought to a point 
whefe at least one hundred thousand youths between 
eighteen and twenty-four years of age could be re- 
ceiving nautical instruction from navy reserve officers 
throughout the country. As they become theoretically 
proficient they should be given practical instruction. 
Our decline in naval reserve forces has been in exact 
ratio with the withdrawal of our people from the 
coasts to inland sections of the United States. 

Our loss in sea-carrying shipping has followed. 
We are a world power with possessions in the Atlantic 
and Pacific and on the borders of three continents, in 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 85 

North America, South America and Asia. We cannot 
exist and be in possession of our freedom on the seas 
if we do not have a proper proportion of men who 
are familiar with, and engaged in, navigation. Our 
prosperity is not a matter solely depending upon the 
products of our farms, our mines or our mercantile 
activities. We must have markets for our surplus 
products and we are dependent upon the world for 
many raw materials which we use in manufacturing. 
For example, we are dependent upon Australia, China 
and Russia for the greater part of the wool which we 
use for our clothing and carpets. We might become 
self-supporting in this matter if we had an adequate 
protective tariff on wool, but as matters stand we have 
never produced more than half our requirements i.i 
wool. We are, too, completely dependent upon the 
importation of crude rubber to care for our rubber in- 
dustry, which includes automobile tires and all of th-r 
miscellaneous trades to which rubber is essential. 

So important is the matter of communication by 
sea that this country should have a Secretary of Marine 
in the Cabinet, the same as we have a Secretary 
of Agriculture and a Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor. 

Under the control of the Secretary of Marine 
might well be placed general supervision of the naval 
reserve. He could well be the commander of the Naval 
Reserve with the several States reporting directly to 
him. This would make possible the organization of 
the mercantile marine on a basis where officers and 
men in the naval reserve could be assigned to mer- 
chant ships to acquire actual practice at sea in naviga- 
tion and drill. 



86 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Our sea service could be made attractive by hav- 
ing the course of instruction arranged so that it would 
qualify those who enlisted to fill important positions 
after their term of service. With Great Britain raising 
her navy to a standing of five hundred thousand men 
and with at least 1,000,000 additional men engaged in 
sailing her fleet of merchant ships, it can be seen that 
she has a seaman power that will give her control of 
the sea at the close of the present war. If the United 
States is to become a world factor in shipping, it must 
increase its percentage of qualified officers and seamen 
for both the navy and the merchant service and no 
time should be lost in getting co-operation in all the 
States with the Federal Government upon a broad 
and sensible plan. 

Connected with the naval reserve and as indis- 
pensable to its. future is the question of shipbuilding. 
It will be found that our shipbuilders who have for 
fifty years been limited to building coastwise vessels 
and ships for our navy have now come into prominence 
and are receiving orders from foreign governments 
and foreign business firms. This is due to the urgent 
demand for tonnage throughout the world as a result 
of the war. The destruction of ships, the internment 
of all the merchant vessels of Germany and Austria- 
Hungary and the appliance of practically fifty per 
cent, of the tonnage of the Allies to activities con- 
nected with actual war has thrown a burden upon the 
remaining merchant tonnage that could not be ade- 
quately borne. The cost of constructing ships has 
jumped until shipyards are receiving as high as $200 
a ton where formerly ships had been built on a basis 
of $40 a ton in foreign yards. This condition is due to 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 87 

war and the costs have also greatly increased in foreign 
countries. 

Japan as well as the United States is busy build- 
ing ships. Our country, unfortunately for us, is build- 
ing the greater percentage of vessels for foreign na- 
tions, chiefly for Norway an-d Great Britain. It will 
be found that American shipyards would eagerly em- 
brace the opportunity of having naval reserve officers 
and enlisted men receive instruction in shipbuilding 
and be given an opportunity to watch the progressive 
steps in building vessels in their yards. It is appreci- 
ated by our shipbuilders that the American tonnage 
will never be increased unless ship operators can find 
men qualified to work under our strict seamen's laws. 
Many of these laws should be revised ; but under all 
circumstances it is realized that American seamen will 
demand and should receive better wages, better food 
and better ship comforts than are given seamen under 
any other flag. 

The question of how to get an adequate mercan- 
tile marine is not one of small moment, but involves 
the ultimate strength of our naval reserve and the 
power of our mercantile marine to cope with world 
competition in time of peace. 

It embraces the question of our being able to re- 
spond to the strain of war now that the United States 
is engaged in a conflict calling for the full energy of 
the nation on sea as well as land. 

Any mother or father should feel proud to have 
a son join the navy, naval reserve or enter the mer- 
cantile marine service. When America was producing 
its greatest men and writing the brightest pages in 
its history, its most brilliant sons were following the 



88 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

sea. It was our redoubtable sea captains who carried 
American merchandise to China, Japan and the East 
Indies and wrested trade from the greatest of Euro- 
pean and British competitors. It was the valor of our 
seamen that brought ultimate victory to us in all of 
our wars. 

Unless a change of heart is made in America and 
our navy, naval reserve and mercantile service receive 
new life, the import and export business of this coun- 
try will revert largely into the hands of foreigners. 
Our nine per cent, of tonnage will still further decline 
because it cannot compete under normal conditions 
after the war, under the restrictions of the La Follette 
seamen's act and the damaging competition that would 
come under the Ship Purchase Act. 

It is estimated that by 1930 with more than one 
hundred and twenty-five million people in the United 
States less than twenty per cent, will live along our 
sea coasts. The salvation of our country, therefore, 
must depend upon an awakening of true American 
spirit among the millions who live in the interior. Self- 
interest with these people is as keen as with any one 
who dwells along our coast and who makes a living 
on the sea. It can be shown that the profits for our 
farmers in the sale of their produce and for manufac- 
turers in the sale of their merchandise as well as the 
wages to all wage-earners, depend upon our ability 
to buy and sell abroad. 

Where we have been satisfied, in the past fifty 
years, to allow foreigners to handle our shipping, it 
must now be clear to all minds that this must be done 
by Americans, in American ships, manned by officers 
and crews who are loyal to our flag. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 89 

It is significant to note that less than three per 
cent, of the emigrants who come to America ever 
make a return voyage. When they reach the United 
States they find a land blest by free government and 
they are content to call it home. It is because of this 
strong spirit in those who come to us from abroad and 
that dwells in the hearts of all those who are born 
under our flag, that the United States has drifted from 
a seafaring nation into one which is devoted almost 
exclusively to activities on land. The danger of this 
for our future is that it leaves us dependent upon those 
who at any time may be involved in foreign alliances 
and entanglements. Let the naval reserve be actively 
recruited and let every loyal American do his or her 
share in restoring the American flag to the high seas, 
to adorn a navy that shall be invincible and a mer- 
chant service that shall make the phrase "Made in 
America" familiar throughout the world. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ORGANIZATION OF HOSPITAL SERVICE. 

There has been a wonderful demonstration of the 
humane instinct which impels Americans to respond 
quickly to the relief of sufferers throughout the world 
during the past two terrible years of conflict. This 
has found expression in the Red Cross service, in the 
Belgium Relief; in the Special Committees that have 
brought relief to the sufferers in Servia, Poland, Tur- 
key and eKewhere on many battlefields and in many 
cases where the wounded prisoners of both belligerents 
have received impartial care. Following the strict in- 
junction of President Wilson that we should rema-n 
neutral not only in the letter of the law but in spirit, 
this country has sent its relief ships and contributed 
money to all causes that appeal to the human heart. We 
have formed our views of the political aspects of the 
war, but for suffering- humanity our sympathies have 
not stopped to ask the nationality of the individual. 

In doing relief work we have earned the respsct, 
the affection, of many nations. 

Now that the war has been brought to a point 
where our entrance into the conflict has been forced 
upon us we must act to protect our rights and to safe- 
guard the lives of our citizens. The question of 
charitable service now becomes one that concerns us 
at home. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 91 

The organization of an adequate hospital service 
for the United States in the event of our country rais- 
ing an army of several millions of men and of having 
a navy and mercantile marine service that will call for 
several hundred thousand men, is a matter that cannot 
be accomplished over night. It requires most careful 
planning and many months of arduous effort on the. 
part of professionally educated men, including physi- 
cians, surgeons, architects, engineers and general sci- 
entists. 

The record of hospital service which has been 
made during the present world war is one of the re- 
deeming features of this otherwise drab story of 
human disagreement and shocking carnage. Physi- 
cians in all the warring countries and volunteers from 
the United States, as well as other neutral countries, 
have flocked to the battle-lines of Europe, Asia and 
Africa to extend the hand of the Samaritan to the 
sufferers. The skill which has been shown in dealing 
with the casualties of the war exceeds the expectations 
which army surgeons and others connected with medi- 
cine had entertained from their previous studies of 
the possibilities of medicine and hygiene. 

With more than twenty million men under arms 
and the territory of the countries invaded adding more 
than thirty million civilians to the numbers forced to 
live under the almost cave-age conditions of prehistoric 
man, it seems miraculous that no plague has swept 
Europe or any other theatre of war. When it is re- 
called that millions of men have now endured the 
rigors of three winter campaigns in the trenches and 
in the dug-outs and labyrinths in the hills of northern 
France and on the bleak marshes of the Russian fron- 



92 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

tier, it is clear that this could not have been accom- 
plished except through the perfect organization of the 
medical staff. 

The health of soldiers in other wars has been re- 
garded as a matter of secondary thought, whereas in 
the present world war it has been made one of the 
paramount considerations. Great Britain and her 
Allies have moved millions of men in crowded trans- 
ports and have brought regiments from Australia, New 
Zealand, India, Canada and the scattered islands of the 
world, to throw these masses of men, unacclimated, 
into the battle-lines in Europe. This has been done 
with the minimum percentage of loss of life through 
avoidable illness. 

The feat of the navy in protecting transports 
has been most remarkable, but an even higher record 
has been attained in the absence of pestilence among 
the armies and thi navies of the belligerents. With the 
Teuton Allies the same skill has been shown in pre- 
serving the health of their field armies. They have 
been forced to conserve food and entire nations have 
been put upon a strict food regulation basis. The 
doling out of food to a nation' in so strict a manner as 
in Germany and Austria-Hungary was never attempt- 
ed before. But for this action, directed by the army, but 
inspired by the medical corps upon a scientific basis, the 
Teutonic Allies would probably have collapsed before 
the end of the second year of the war. 

In the United States the organization of the hos- 
pital service must be effected along lines that will 
bring the full power of the State to bear. All colleges, 
whether medical, military or strictly scholastic, should 
embrace in their curriculum some phases of military 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 93 

instruction so that students would have the rudi- 
mentary ideas of discipline, military organization and 
knowledge of how best to co-operate with the different 
branches of the army service of the nation in time of 
stress. In our medical colleges a comprehensive course 
in military and medical instruction should be obliga- 
tory. This would result in every graduate physician 
being potentially equipped to render advanced aid to 
the wounded in case of a serious war in which we had 
large field armies and a large quota of men in conflict 
and where the percentage of wounded became large. 
Army and navy surgeons should deliver, as part of 
their duty, lectures before medical student bodies and 
to graduate bodies. This would help to atone for th(! 
lax methods we have pursued in the past. 

Our navy reserve surgeons should be instructed 
by actual drill, how to perform the necessary moves 
to handle men on battleships under conditions that 
would obtain in action. This means that when our 
high sea fleets are manoeuvered a drill be held 
in which naval surgeons and the naval reserve staff 
undergo a test of their ability to handle cases 
in the temporary hospitals below decks. In the mimic 
action the officers and seamen should bring in cases 
as if for actual treatment. Mere theorizing will never 
produce high executive ability in handling such mat- 
ters and in well-regulated hospital service actual con- 
tact between physicians and wounded men must be 
more than studied from the hypothetical standpoint. 

Our navy surgeons should be detailed to actual 
service in large city hospitals for a stated period when 
in home waters so as to acquire practical skill in treat- 
ing emergency cases. 



94 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

As to the development of the adequate hospital ser- 
vice oa land the plans which the army and navy, the 
militia, naval reserve and volunteer organizations 
should develop must be co-related and should include 
hospital bases in our principal cities capable of accom- 
modating emergency cases as brought in from both 
field hospitals or hospital ships. 

On this score it v^ould be wise, and certainly a 
feasible plan, to have in Boston an emergency hospital 
equipped to handle 10,000 cases; in New York an 
equipment for 25,000 cots; in Philadelphia 10,000; 
Washington 25,000, making the Washington hospital 
headquarters for the general hospital staff; in Balti- 
more 5,000 cots; in Wilmington, Del., 5,000 cots; in 
Jacksonville, Fla., 5,000; in Porto Rico 5,000; in Mol)ile 
5,000; in New Orleans 5,000; in San Antonio, Tex., 
5,000; in Los Angeles 5,000; in San Francisco 25,000. 
As San Francisco is the chief port of entry on the 
Pacific coast and would be the natural headquarters 
for the relief of our armies and navies acting on the 
continent in Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines or our 
other possessions, this base should be as large as the 
one in New York. In Portland, Ore., 5,000; in Seattle. 
Wash., 5,000; in Hawaiian Islands 10,000; in Guam 
5.000; in Manila 20,000; in Alaska 5,000; in Chicag.. 
10,000; in St. Paul 5,000; in Detroit 5,000, and smaller 
hospitals in all other cities. 

With hospitals in these and other cities in propor- 
tion to population or position the State militia, medical 
officers, the regular army, the naval reserve and volun- 
teer civic organizations, would be able to conduct prac- 
tical mobilization to test their efficiency. At monthly, 
quarterly or semi-annual periods general inspections 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 95 

could be conducted to see if equipment and efficiency 
were sustained. In the base iiospitals, as above sug- 
gested, necessary stores and field eciuipment for a state 
force and for the regular army, when on war footing, 
could be stored and all the materials could be kept in 
good condition. The forces of regular army officers 
and men attached to the hospitals would have practical 
work in hand. 

These hospitals would at all times be available for 
emergencies as in the case of plague or of some catas- 
trophe such as the San Francisco earthquake, the Gal- 
veston flood, or a devastating fire such as that which 
occurred in Baltimore. This nation with its wealth 
«ind with its people proud of their liberty and strong 
in their possession of the means for accumulating 
wealth greater than any other people in the world 
should not show a mean and parsimonious spirit 
towards safeguarding their homes and their country. 
Money expended for the proper organization of the 
hospital service would be put to excellent use. All 
of the hospitals under the military control could prop- 
erly become centres for scientific research and ad- 
vancement of the surgeons in the army or navy could 
properly be based upon a merit system for accomplish- 
ments in times of peace. This country should have as 
its minimum a system of military hospitals that would 
accommodate 200,000, and upon this when the emer- 
gency came the expansion could be made in an orderly 
and efficient manner to meet our maximum needs. 

The great world war has shown that the methods 
of handling casualties on a battle-line has been worked 
out to a point of practical perfection. Immediately 
b^ck of the trenches or the open field are the stretcher- 



96 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

bearers who bring the wounded to the emergency field 
station where the first medical treatment is given. 
The wounded are then carried to a regimental hospital 
and then as fast as they can be transported they are 
taken back to brigade or division hospital headquar- 
ters, thence to the corps headquarters which are always 
many miles back of the fighting zone. From there in 
hospital trains those who are not seriously wounded 
are conveyed to base hospitals and recuperation camps. 

Where an expeditionary force, such as England 
has had in France, is engaged the slightly wounded 
and the convalescent are brought back to their own 
country. 

In our own case if we are so involved in the war as 
to have forces in foreign countries it will be necessary 
for us to have hospital ships to bring back our wound- 
ed and for this reason, as previously outlined, the 
medical staflf should at all times co-operate with the 
navy so that surgeons attached to army organizations 
could render necessary service on board ship when ac- 
companying wounded. 

It has been shown that the best results are ob- 
tained by not having hospitals and convalescent camps 
in large cities. Now that we have the advantage of 
time in which to make the necessary selection of sites 
for hospitals and for camps, the work should be under- 
taken and all preliminary details cared for as insurance 
against the future. 

A careful enrollment of those who desire to serve 
their country by acting as orderlies, nurses, ambulance 
drivers, stretcher-carriers, apothecary clerks, should be 
made so that definite facts would be in the possession 
of the chiefs of staff in the various hospital headquar- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 97 

ters. Provision should be made for an adequate supply 
of drugs and medical stores subject to instant requisi- 
tion for the Federal needs. Army officers should be 
clothed with the authority in times of peace dis- 
turbance to see that a percentage of the stock 
of all wholesale druggists and manufacturers 
be held in reserve for this purpose the same as the 
Government is empowered to force national banks to 
hold a certain percentage of their money as a reserve. 

There would be no serious business hardship en- 
tailed, but the great advantage to the Government 
would be immunity from having prices inordinately 
advanced on the cry of shortage of indispensable goods 
during the war. 

To those who are inclined to pursue the records 
of the conduct of hospital cases in Europe and else- 
where in the present world war it will be shown that 
a smaller percentage of deaths has resulted from 
wounds than during any other war, considering the 
numbers involved. The infliction of serious wounds 
has been smaller owing to the reduced calibre of the 
rifles and the abolishment of soft lead bullets, general- 
ly termed "mushrooms." The recoveries of those 
slightly wounded have been the highest on record and 
of those who have suffered the loss of limbs or of some 
of their senses, the restoration of the patient to a point 
where he has become self-supporting has been most 
remarkable. 

It has required skill and close application to attain 
this proficiency on the part of the regular army and 
navy surgeons and those volunteering for hospital 
work. The percentage of killed in action in the present 
war is unusually small. Those who have been saved 



98 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

and passed on to recovery number more than in other 
great wars. The same wonderful record is shown in 
the base hospitals and in the recuperation camps. Even 
in the prison hospitals the Allies have exerted the ut- 
most effort to prevent death from contagious diseases 
and to give as careful treatment to the enemy wounded 
as has been given to their own. 

A final word may be said in regard to what true 
efficiency in hospital organization means. It is of 
record that following the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 
1916, Great Britain transported her wounded soldiers 
from the battle-line in France to the English Channel, 
across the channel, and from Dover to London in 
forty-eight hours. 

Until the United States can approximate this 
record and similar records achieved by France, Italy, 
Germany, Austria, Russia and the other nations, it be- 
hooves us to talk less and study more the needs of our 
country in the matter of preparedness for the great 
war in which we are engaged. 



CHAPTER X. 

ORGANIZING THE MUNITIONS SUPPLY. 

It has been the proud declaration of the United 
States that it has remained a non-militant nation. By 
this is meant that it has not supported a large stand- 
ing army or increased its naval equipment to inordi- 
nate proportions. Full dependence has been placed 
upon the citizen soldier to respond in emergencies for 
the defense of his country. While we remained dis- 
tinctly a country without foreign possessions and free 
from any European or other foreign entanglements, 
through alliances or special treaties, we had no fear 
of assault from abroad and our armed forces were only 
needed to suppress Indian uprisings within our own 
territory and to police the Mexican border against 
bandit warfare. 

With the acquisition of the Philippine Islands, 
Porto Rico, Guam, the naval station at Guantanamo, 
Cuba, and with our holding the Hawaiian Islands in 
the mid-Pacific, we have become, within the past 
twenty years, a world power and by this token have 
been compelled to view international questions from 
more than a provincial standpoint. 

The basis of our independence rests upon our 
right to trade with all countries in matters of mer- 
chandise and to be free, at all times, to purchase arms 
and munitions when we need them for our own pui- 



100 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

pose. The co-relative right to sell arms and munitions 
to any other country is ours and has always been free- 
ly exercised. 

Since the opening of the world war in August, 
1914, it has been an incident of the actual hostilities 
that the Entente Allies have swept Teutonic shipping 
from the seas and prevented the transportation of 
munitions and even of non-contraband merchandise to 
the Central Powers. We have maintained our right to 
ship to those Who wish to purchase and as the Entente 
Allies hold full control of the seas they have been large 
purchasers of munitions from us, as well as of un- 
limited supplies of agricultural products, live stock 
and non-contraband manufactured goods. 

Now that the American people are awakened to 
the importance of preparing to defend their rights and 
liberties the difficulties of an adequate munitions sup- 
ply becomes of paramount importance. .It was the 
lack of munitions that held the Allies back for the first 
two years of the war and which, even now, is prevent- 
ing Russia, the greatest man-power factor in the Al- 
liance, from attaining its full military strength. Great 
Britain has mobilized both men and women in the 
munition factories of the British Isles, and from Can- 
ada has also been able to draw enormous supplies of 
munitions. These added to what has been purchased 
from the United States have finally brought the British 
Empire into a position of adequate preparedness. 

In the United States we have the iron ore, the 
steel mills, the copper ore and refineries and all the 
mechanical requirements for producing munitions in 
practically limitless quantity. The Federal Govern- 
ment has already taken steps to catalogue the manu- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 101 

facturing interests and to survey the raw material mar- 
kets, and upwards of 30,000 manufacturing plants are 
capable of responding to the demand for munitions. 

The next step is to see that the potential possibili- 
ties of our country are given concrete expression and 
that orders for the actual production of the various 
classes of munitions be distributed among manufac- 
turers so that they and their operatives may become 
familiar with the production of given types of supplies. 

It is the duty of all technical schools and colleges 
to include in their course instruction in the production 
of munitions, including the manufacture of small arms, 
ordnance, explosives and instruction as to the co- 
relation of metals to the manufacturing trades. This 
would give our student bodies practical training dur- 
ing the most susceptible years of a man's life, as the 
majority of our under-graduates are from 18 to 24 
years of age. When they entered business fields they 
would be equipped not only with theoretical and 
book knowledge but would know how the arts and 
crafts were joined in real business activities. 

If our engineering schools and our alumni from 
such schools wish to show their patriotism it can 
be 3one by taking up supplementary courses that will 
equip men to take an active part in the event of the 
United States being forced to mobilize its entire in- 
dustrial strength for the conduct of the great war. This 
would place us in the same position that Germany 
occupied before the war and where Great Britain, 
France, Italy, Russia and Japan have arrived under 
the pressure of mortal combat. In all of our industrial 
plants throughout the United States it would be well 
to have the foremen, superintendents and executive 



102 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

officials give whatever instruction they can to their 
operatives so as to instil in the wage-earners an ap- 
preciation of the advantages they enjoy in the United 
States. These millions of operatives whose homes are 
here, whose children are mostly native-born Ameri- 
cans and whose destinies are indissolubly joined with 
ours, should be made to know that they are not called 
upon to act as automatons, but to be vital factors ' i 
the development and protection of the United States. 

If co-operation is exercised much of the antag- 
onism which now exists between capital and labor 
would vanish and several hundred thousand skilled 
operatives could soon be brought to a point of pre 
paredness where they could render high service to 
their country through intensifying the production of 
our mills, foundries and various factories that will 
be taxed to supply the army and navy of the Republic. 

Increased skill and proficiency acquired under such 
conditions would redound to their benefit in times of 
peace and make them eligible for advancement. Thi? 
will place the United States in such a position that it 
will be invulnerable against commercial attacks from 
outside competitors when world peace is at last pro- 
claimed and the armies of Europe and the other con- 
tinents are disbanded and the pursuits of peace are 
again taken up by the millions who are on the firing 
line and others who are devoting their entire energy 
to producing munitions. 

In connection with the organization of a muni- 
tion supply adequate provision should be made for the 
storing of arms, munitions and accoutrements. The 
dangers from aerial attack are such that none of our 
old arsenals or reserve depots are safe and our en- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN • 103 

gineers should devise new types of buildings of sub- 
terranean structure to protect the reserve munition 
supplies as they are created. Close collaboration 
should exist between the engineering and manufactur- 
ing staffs engaged in producing munitions so that 
the chemists who are depended upon to produce mod- 
ern explosives can do their best work. 

As the theatre of war in Europe has spread over 
vast areas and involved a score of countries, it is 
apparent that modern military preparedness in Ameri- 
ca must view the possibilities of attack from either 
our Atlantic, Pacific or Gulf of Mexico coasts or from 
the Mexican or Canadian borders. This imposes upon 
the Federal Government the necessity of having muni- 
tion reserves at scattered points and it should impel 
the practice of having our manoeuvers with the regu- 
lar army, militia and volunteer organizations conduct- 
ed over new ground each season, so that the results 
of actual practice and training under varying climatic 
and topographical conditions can be acquired. 

This will prompt the several States to improve 
their roads and will put the burden of actual test upon 
our railroads and interior waterways in the matter of 
transportation. In the full development of a muni- 
tions supply this country will derive its greatest col- 
lateral benefit from the development of a self-sustain- 
i'ng drug and chemical industry and the production of 
constantly increasing supplies of fertilizer. This will 
help to solve the problem of the high cost of living as 
it would increase the productivity of our arable lands. 
It will be seen that the munitions problem is not solely 
one of producing shot and shell, but has wide ramifica- 
tions that affect the entire population of the country. 



CHAPTER XL 

ORGANIZING THE COMMISSARY. 

Feeding an army and navy is the most important 
work connected with the military establishment out- 
side of the actual use of forces in battle. No less an 
authority than Napoleon pronounced the dictum that 
"an army moves on its stomach." This means that 
unless the armed forces are properly fed they cannot 
perform their duties and maintain the field. Even in 
their dire straits Germany and her Allies continue 
to feed the armed forces on a normal diet. 

It has become one of the cardinal principles in 
modern military tactics to provide sufficient nourish- 
ing food and pure drinking water for the army and 
navy and to allow no effort to be relaxed in keeping 
the supply uninterrupted. The Japanese won their 
war against Russia in 1905 by having their armies in 
Corea and Siberia well fed and always in fit physical 
condition. 

The saddest experiences which we have had in 
American history have been those regarding the Im- 
poverishment of our soldiers in the field through in- 
adequacy of the commissary department. This was 
the story during the Civil War and was the one black 
spot in the Spanish-American War. Even in the pres- 
ent mobilization of the army and the militia on the 
Mexican border our commissary had not perfected 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 105 

the service so as to issue proper army rations for a 
torrid climate. The men sent to Texas were gathered 
from all sections of the United States and were not 
acclimated to living in a semi-tropical country. Still 
by adhering to the Army Blue Book regulations and 
doling out rations intended for soldiers operating in a 
temperate climate, the issuing of food was not well- 
balanced and if continued for any length of time would 
have resulted in the impairment of health. 

Our commissary officers in the regular army, in 
the militia and those who would come into action un- 
der the volunteer service should have more than 
theoretical knowledge of the proper foods to provide 
for soldiers in varying climates. All exigencies of 
the service should be considered and the provision of 
the commissary be made in accordance with the field 
of activity in which the men move. 

Modern science has made as great an advance in 
the matter of foods as in any branch of chemistry or 
mechanics and the old policy of issuing hardtack and 
bacon, black coffee and bread to soldiers, and but 
slightly varying this, is a method that has to be aban- 
doned. With concentrated foods, with beef extracts, 
with condensed foods in liquid forms, with evaporated 
and powdered milk, with the increase of appreciation 
of the nutritive quality of rice, with the wonderful im- 
provement that has been made in canning meats, 
armies may be supplied with a well-balanced ration 
and the health of the soldier maintained. The same 
is true when applied to those serving in the navy. 

There should be zones in which the medical and 
scientific experts should determine that a certain die- 
tary be made official and compulsory. When troops are 



106 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

called to act in such a zone the commissary without 
guesswork or whim would be compelled to provide a 
certain class of food to constitute "rations." 

It will be found that in this country packers 
and those engaged in producing our canned, preserved 
and concentrated foods will act in concert to provide 
the necessary supplies for the commissary. The days 
of sending field armies into territory to depend upon 
foraging as a means of sustenance are over. These 
methods too closely resemble the invasions of Bar- 
barians than the method by which the recognized 
armed forces of one nation should war against the 
armed forces of an opponent. In plans for prepared- 
ness at the present time food depots on the Atlantic 
and Pacific coasts, along the Great Lakes and in the 
Gulf States should be created and army officers and 
proper representatives from the Agricultural Depart- 
ment should work in harmony so as to be familiarized 
with all details of the production and transportation 
of food products. 

The medical staffs of all the great armies of Con- 
tinental Europe and those operating in other fields 
are a unit in declaring that filtration of water is the 
chief reason for the minimizing of the death rate dur- 
ing the world war. The water that is used for cooking 
and drinking purposes in the field carries with it more 
danger than the bullet of the enemy. Typhoid and 
other dangerous fevers are contracted by drinking im- 
pure water. It should be one of the first compulsory 
duties of a commissary department to have an ade- 
quate supply of filtered water available. This should 
be accomplished by having proper portable filtration 
plants accompany the army in the field and the in- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 107 

stallation of large independent filtration plants in 
every army station, fort, concentration camp and 
army reservation of any character. This would pro- 
vide against the sudden destruction of a municipal 
water supply and make the army completely inde- 
pendent. 

So scientific has become the development ol llu.-. 
commissary with its collateral provision for water 
that both the Entente Allies and the Teutonic Allies 
have in their establishments corps of officers and men 
devoted to the work of running water-pipe lines Lo 
within a short distance of the fighting lines. This is 
regarded as quite as essential as keeping the roads 
open for transport cars and wagons. 

If the army of the United States which operatei! 
in Santiago, Cuba, in the Spanish-American War, had 
taken with it a complete water supply unit it would 
have been able to pipe a supply of pure water to the 
men investing Santiago and the heavy toll from fever:-; 
would have been avoided. 

War imposes the supreme effort upon a State for 
its very existence and no step is too irksome or bur- 
densome if it helps to assert sovereign power. No ex- 
pense is too great to mcur to accomplish victory, In 
the matter of a portable water filtration service an 
army of 2,000,000 men under modern conditions should 
be provided with at least 5,000 auto-filter tank cars of 
some one of the types which are now proving their 
serviceability on the battlefields of Europe. 

In summing up the question of commissary it is 
well to remember that the United States is inde- 
pendent of foreign supply for any of the indispensable 
articles of food. This makes it all the more impera- 



108 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

tive that we should not send our forces to fight on 
land or sea improperly provided with food or water. 
One of the reasons which is given for the great 
virility of Americans is that we are distinctly a meat- 
eating race. This has caused the creation of a won- 
derful system of handling meats and the refrigerating 
cars which are owned by the great packing concerns 
would place within the hands of the Government 
means for furnishing fresh meat to the army or navy 
in ample quantity. There is no spot in the United 
States that is not reached by cars of the refrigerating 
systems of the packing houses in Chicago, Kansas 
City, St. Louis, Omaha and the other central cities 
where the packing industries are located. America 
has ample supplies of beef, mutton and pork for its 
110,000,000 of people and could never be starved out 
in the sense that Germany or Great Britain could be 
affected by a blockade. This is our strength and 
should be properly used by the commissary depart- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ORGANIZATION OF TRANSPORTATION DE- 
PARTMENT. 

In a country of such magnificent distances as the 
United States, which has an ocean to ocean sweep of 
3,000 miles and gulf to lakes expanse of more than 
2,000 iriiles, transportation is the most important con- 
sideration, both from the military and civil point of 
view. The center of population of the United States 
is now creeping close to a direct line passing north 
and south through Chicago. This means that the move- 
ment of large bodies of troops would involve their 
transportation either by rail, water or motor vehicle 
for distances of 1,500 miles or more from the interior 
to our sea coasts and land borders. 

Steps have been taken for mobilizing the facilities 
of our railroads, but the most recent demonstration of 
the ineffectiveness of this attempt of harmonizing rail- 
road transportation and the necessities of the army 
was given in the movements of troops to the Mexi- 
can border during June and July, 1916, and their sub- 
sequent return to the various States from which they 
were summoned. 

A central board having plenary power to com- 
mandeer railroad and steamship facilities is needed 
just as in Europe railroads are subject to complete 
domination in war time for the requirements of the 



110 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

army. We have in this country a wonderful system 
of over 250,000 miles of railways, which is the great- 
est mileage of any country in the world and gives us 
first place in this respect. We have thousands of miles 
of navigable rivers and canals and highways that are 
susceptible of being made serviceable all the year 
round. Our highways should be constructed of con- 
crete instead of macadam or other forms, such as dirt 
roads or other composition surfaces. Where concrete 
roads have been laid they remain good in any kind 
of weather and last from 5 to 12 years according lo 
the severity of the traffic utilizing them. A network 
of such roads transversing the country north, south, 
east and west would help to solve the question of the 
high cost of living, as it would extend the area of 
direct haulage for farmers and make agricultural prod- 
ucts available the year round, where now, for many 
months each year, the roads are impassable on ac- 
count of mud. In times of war the clear concrete 
roads would facilitate the movement of troops, artil- 
lery and transport and allow of quick mobilization. 

Connected with the Transportation Department 
must be a close association of our system of telephone, 
telegraph and wireless communication. All of these 
agencies, including railroads, steamships, canal boats, 
are privately owned instrumentalities which have been 
developed by the investments of the public and are 
operated under public franchise or corporate rights. 
There is no disposition on the part of American cor- 
porations and public utilities to impede the move- 
ments of the Government in times of distress any more 
than there is to do so in the days of peace and pros- 
perity, and it will be found that a Federal Board of 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 111 

Transportation will receive every co-operation pos- 
sible from the various organizations and corporations 
that have charge of our means of communication. 

It is imperative that all rolling stock should be 
indexed and a record kept of its location and avail- 
ability for Government purposes. All army equip- 
ment should be made of standard gauge so that trans- 
port wagons, artillery caissons, tank cars and all auto- 
mobile or motor trucks could be equipped with flange 
wheels, so they may be placed upon the rails and 
moved at a moderate speed in place of being stored 
on flat cars, as is now the custom. This would make 
available thousands of railway cars for use in moving- 
accoutrements and supplies and would obviate the 
long delays at transfer depots near the front where 
single track roads only are available for moving trains. 

Upon reaching a point near the front motor trucks 
and other vehicles that were placed on the rails would 
have their regular tires restored and could at once 
move off under their own power, or, in the case of 
transport wagons, have their mules and horses at- 
tached and be immediately available. Portable kitchens 
should also be constructed on standard gauge so that 
they, too, could be transported by trailing instead of 
being placed on cars. 

It should be the course of common sense and rea- 
son to have army officers detailed to duty in railway 
executive offices and familiar with railroad inspection 
so that they would be thoroughly familiar with the 
duties and limitations of traffic. Navy officers should 
similarly be detailed to steamship executive offices and 
be thoroughly drilled in the matter of commercial 
steamship operation, including the problems of stow- 



112 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

ing and unloading ships under all conditions of wharf- 
age, harbor lighterage and open sea transfer. In a 
country that has millions of freight cars and the larg- 
est number of engines and passenger cars, it seems 
incredible that a plan cannot be devised that would 
embrace the allotment of old rolling stock to the regu- 
lar army and to the State militia forces so that it 
could be properly repaired and made available as 
military reserve rolling stock. This could be done at 
a moderate cost and as military demand would be 
made only in an emergency the cars would serve their 
purpose and would not be drawn from regular com- 
mercial use, thus dislocating the regular course of 
commerce and causing the rapid increase in the price 
of commodities throughout the country. All rolling 
stock that came under the control of the Federal or 
State Governments could be marked "Property of U. 
S. A." and by gradual sequestration the full quota of 
rolling stock needed for military purposes could be 
acquired within a period of 5 to 7 years. 

To show how important the matter of transporta- 
tion is it may be noted that to move an infantry regi- 
ment as now constituted requires 64 day coaches and 
22 baggage and freight cars. These have to be moved 
in from 5 to 6 sections. Delays on railways in mov- 
ing troops great distances arise from the fact that a 
New Hampshire regiment, for example, moving to 
the Rio Grande has to traverse many States and the 
cars are gone from New Hampshire for a period of 
from 3 to 6 weeks. Under the plan of the Federal gov- 
ernment and State militia owning their railway stock, 
the railroads would not be embarrassed by the loss of 
cars for long periods drawn from regular service. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 113 

In any modern engagement of our troops railroad 
transportation must include day coaches, sleepers, 
baggage cars, box cars, flat cars, tank cars, cattle cars, 
special trucks for transporting heavy artillery, armored 
cars, hospital cars, long-bodied flat cars for transport- 
ing aeroplanes and combination wrecking and snow- 
plow cars. These tweive types must be assembled and 
moved en bloc if a unit is to operate effective- 
ly. Such a systematic assembling of transportation 
facihties means perfect mobility and is the best assur- 
ance of successful action. It is little short of senile 
for the United States Government to rely upon the 
requisition of private motor trucks and automobiles, 
mules and horses for the carrying out of its militar}-- 
operations. The richest nation in the world, popu- 
lated by 110,000,000 active and intelligent people, 
should evolve a plan of action for military defense 
that depends upon government-owned agencies and 
not the haphazard collection of nondescript equipment. 

To enter the war with a million volunteers un- 
equipped and undrilled and using a motley aggrega- 
tion of livestock and rolling stock would place us on 
a par with the crusaders who traveled as a rabble from 
Europe to Palestine in the Dark Ages. 

The transportation problem is one which is de- 
serving of the attention of America's brainiest men 
and the Federal Government will find that friendly 
co-operation will be extended by the executives who 
have built, and who control, the greatest railway 
systems in the world. As necessity forces the United 
States into war let us be prepared to move our troops 
in an orderly and prompt manner and in keeping with 
the dignity of the world's greatest single power. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ORGANIZING THE FUEL SUPPLY FOR 
ARMY AND NAVY. 

In considering the events of the world war it is 
seen that one of the most serious checks to the oper- 
ation of the Central Powers has been the curtailment 
of their supply of fuel, in coal, crude oil and gasoline. 
Italy and France have also been seriously crippled by 
the lack of regular supplies of fuel for their navy and 
to maintain their manufacturing plants. Great Britain 
has been in better shape than any of her Allies 
because of her wonderful control of ocean shipping 
and her native supplies of coal in England and Wales. 

Applying this consideration to the United States 
it will be seen that we are a nation particularly 
blessed as we have the largest world deposit of an- 
thracite coal in our Pennsylvania mining region ; we 
have the greatest field of natural gas in the Ohio 
Valley and in parts of the Mississippi Valley and our 
supply of crude oil is the greatest in the world and 
is not confined to any one locality but runs from 
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana to sections in Wyom- 
ing, Utah and Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and finally 
in the California oil district the greatest wells in the 
world are now gushing. Our soft coal deposits are 
scattered throughout Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsyl- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 115 

vania, Alabama, Mississippi, Colorado and smaller 
deposits in other States. It will thus be seen that 
we are supplied in lavish measure with the essentials 
for fuel for our army and navy. 

The transportation requirements for moving our 
troops on land can be amply cared for whether using 
coal or oil for fuel. These supplies are available on 
the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf or Lake fronts- The pipe 
lines and seaboard refineries assure ample oil and 
gasoline; and the coal carrying railroads make it cer- 
tain that the navy can be adequately supplied at home. 

One of the lessons of the world war is that any 
nation pretending to occupy a position as a sea power 
must maintain naval bases on or near all of the con- 
tinents where adequate supplies of men, munitions 
and provisions can be drawn upon. 

The United States but recently entering the field 
of world politics has a wonderful chain of possessions. 
With our Atlantic coast as a basis for operations to 
the east and the Gulf of Mexico serving as a basis for 
the protection of the Panama and our Gulf stations, 
we have in addition a coaling station at Guantanamo, 
Cuba, which controls the Key West gateway to the 
Panama and the Gulf of Mexico. We are in posses- 
sion of the Hawaiian Islands, the half way station 
across the Pacific, and have on the Asiatic coast the 
enormous territory embraced in the Philippine Islands. 
As a stepping stone between these two points is our 
Guam possession. On the Pacific coast we have our 
continental coast line including Washington, Oregon 
and California and to the north, Alaska. It becomes 
an imperative duty for the Federal Government to 



116 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

create all of these vantage points into impregnable 
military depots. 

A plan should be devised for the holding of a 
large reserve of oil, coal, navy stores, commissary- 
stores, arms and munition at these points and the 
navy in its routine functions should be made to trans- 
port all material to distant stations. This would give 
the men of the navy excellent practice in what would 
be their duties in time of a blockade. 

As to supply of fuel for the army it would chiefly 
constitute gasoline as the fuel for the railways needed 
in transportation would be provided for by the several 
transportation companies in the course of their regular 
operation. A plan should be provided for the instant 
acquirement of all gasoline in transit, in reserve and 
held by retailers, in this time of war so that price regu- 
lation may be accomplished and the Government put 
in position to retain as much for the nation's use as is 
deemed necessary at the outset, thus avoiding the 
possibility of a shortage at any place, at such a crucial 
time. 

Those interested in bringing the American army 
and navy to a point of high proficiency would do well 
to encourage the improvement of crude oil burners 
and carburetors that can use kerosene. When motor 
cars, submarines and light motor boats can be oper- 
ated by either gasoline or kerosene our fuel supply 
in this regard will practically be doubled. 

Running parallel with the necessity of having a 
steady fuel supply for the actual needs of the army 
and navy is the provision for our industrial plants- 
When it is noted that more than thirty thousand 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 117 

manufacturing concerns in the United States are al- 
ready enrolled as capable of making some form of 
munitions, and that the needs of one hundred and ten 
million people in matters of daily life must be pro- 
vided for, the question of the uninterrupted operation 
of industrial plants becomes one deserving of the 
most careful consideration. By careful advance study 
the proper allocation of supplies for army, navy and 
industrial requirements can be made, without causing 
unnecessary delays and break-downs in any direction. 
The United States virgin supplies of coal and oil that 
have not been utilized or even fully prospected and 
those -under Government or State control, can always 
be called upon to bring up the needed production in 
the event of our being forced to use enormous quan- 
tities for an active navy and a large army in the field. 
What is needed is closer co-operation between the 
-'Federal Government and business concerns rather 
than criticisms. The material is here, furnished by 
nature, and it only requires skill in producing and 
distributing it, to make the United States completely 
independent and fully prepared to meet emergencies. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PROVIDING FOR MERCHANT MARINE 
SERVICE. 

It has been the object of every nation that has had 
access to the sea to develop foreign commerce and to 
have a strong navy and a large mercantile marine un- 
der its flag. Our own country from its birth and 
through all the vicissitudes of the first eighty-five 
years of its existence to 1861 was known throughout 
the world as a powerful maritime country. Our sea- 
men excelled in the manipulation of their craft and 
their voyages took them into every quarter of the 
globe- In our navy the ofificers and men were known 
for their individual valor and it was the prowess of 
our war frigates and few ships of the line that won us 
independence in the Revolution, secured our rights to 
the sea in the War of 1812 and brought victory to the 
Federal cause in the Civil War. 

Yet today we have become a nation almost devoid 
of a mercantile marine. In comparison with our pop- 
ulation and the extent of our territory, our shipping 
under the American flag is smaller in proportion than 
that possessed by any other first or second class nation. 

Following the Civil War Americans devoted their 
attention to the revival of trade at home and to heal- 
ing the scars left by the four years of civil strife. 
Drastic coastwise regulations were enforced to give 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 119 

a total monopoly to our ships in the matter of inter- 
state trading, in our territorial waters. This, however, 
was not a policy that served to build up the mercantile 
marine in its relations to foreign trade. Great Britain, 
Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Belgium 
and Holland all engaged in a strenuous effort to ac- 
quire the business of transporting goods from Europe 
to this country and from here to foreign ports. As 
they offered to carry merchandise at a lower freight 
rate than American shippers could name, the business 
drifted into their hands. 

Thus in a period of fifty years the American flag 
has gradually vanished from the sea except for the 
small percentage of passenger ships that ply the At- 
lantic and the few freighters that struggle against 
crushing foreign competition. As our youths grew 
to manhood they found seamanship to be an unattrac- 
tive calling and but few engaged in it. So at the out- 
break of the world war in 1914 we were at the low 
ebb in our mercantile marine history. 

It is of great importance that men be recruited 
for the merchant-ship service and no effort should be 
spared by those who are sincerely interested in the 
future of the country to awaken the spirit of co-opera- 
tion in the interior states so that Congressmen and 
Senators will regard measures affecting shipping in a 
broad and statesmanlike manner. We need improved 
harbors, better facilities for shipyards, adequate dry- 
docks on our coasts and in our distant possessions- 
Above all we need such a modification in existing 
Federal statutes as will give American ship owners 
an opportunity to operate their boats on a basis that 
will show a fair return for the money invested and 



120 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

permit of their giving their seamen a wage that is in 
keeping with the American mode of living. 

There appears to be but one way of accomplish- 
ing this and that is through some form of Federal en- 
couragement either in a ship subsidy or in a preferen- 
tial adjustment of taxes and fees. The one dominant 
fact before the nation is that our shipping tonnage 
must be increased in order to handle our foreign trade 
and that no partisanship must stand in the way of 
legislation that can aid to this end. 

We can find $25,000,000 at a time when the re- 
sources of the country are being mobilized for war, 
to be spent for acquiring the Danish West Indies. Of 
what good to us are these islands or any of our world 
possessions if they furnish shipping opportunities for 
foreigners, but are not made available to our own mer- 
chant marine? Let us make a new and determined 
start to control our own sea trade. This is the most 
direct way for the United States to assist in the world 
war, for it will assure our allies of food and munitions. 



CHAPTER XV. 

DEFENDING AND PATROLING OUR BOR- 
DERS AND COASTS. 

It has frequently been asserted by critics of Amer- 
icans that we are a nation of traders and are given 
over to the worship of the dollar. The records, how- 
ever, show that when our imaginations are quickened, 
and our spirit of patriotism is stirred, we can convert 
our energy into such efifective action that our enernies 
are crushed and victory gained no matter what the 
cost. From considering the question of national de- 
fense as one of purely theoretical speculation, the 
country from one end to the other is now awakened 
and the energy and ingenuity of our patriotic millions 
are concentrated on how to make the United 
States supreme in the matter of defense and com- 
petent to enter into offensive war. 

The first thought of all of those engaged in our 
army and navy service and those associated with them 
on council boards is how to defend our coasts and 
secondarily how to guard our land borders- 

With submarines and airships to contend with 
as new factors in warfare the old rules have to be set 
aside. Now that torpedoes are regarded as one of 
the most deadly weapons and can be projected from 
swift moving torpedo boats, lurking submarines or 



122 • AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

dropped from aircraft, it necessitates that ingenuity 
be exerted to conceive adequate defense. Our har- 
bor forts on the Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico 
and the Pacific coast are types of obsolete military 
defense. We have used the earth works and the per- 
manent buildings of our old harbor forts as the points 
for mounting modern artillery; yet the experience 
of the present war shows that masonry cannot with- 
stand shell fire. In a night it was shown on the Bel- 
gian border that no permanent land batteries could 
stand against mobile siege guns. Therefore our fixed 
fortifications are really a liability instead of a military 
asset. It is clear that a shifting line of artillery 
mounted on trucks and capable of ready transfer must 
form the basis of coast defense. We need besides 
more heavy field artillery batteries and adequate 
forces for the regular army, in all departments; de- 
tachments from the naval stations and militia- The 
volunteer forces and the naval reserve, acting with 
whatever civil bodies such as police, fire department 
and other uniformed organizations that can be advan- 
tageously used, should form an auxiliary coast de- 
fense. 

Immediately upon the threat of attack on any 
coast or on the border the Governors of States should 
swear in deputy sheriffs, constables, police and such 
other special officers as have been drilled in guarding 
water works, canals, railways, bridges, highways, pub- 
lic buildings, warehouses and other buildings of pub- 
lic importance. These forces .and not military de- 
tachments should do the police work. 

The problem of proper defense and patrol of our 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 123 

country embraces a carefully devised plan of the 
Pacific coast, including the western approach to the 
Panama Canal, California, Oregon, Washington and 
Alaska. It should be the diplomatic purpose of the 
United States to acquire by purchase, grant or lease, 
control of the Gulf of iLower California and of the pen- 
insula as this waterway and the peninsula would 
constitute an impregnable base on the Pacific coast 
for our fleets and afford a proper military and naval 
station for the erection of arsenals, ordnance works, 
shipyards, dry docks and training stations. Short 
railways leading to the gulf from California, Arizona 
and New Mexico would tap the oil and agricultural 
supplies of California, the mineral supplies of Arizona 
and New Mexico and back of these the transcontinen- 
tal railroads that would bring all classes of munitions 
to the Pacific. The acquisition of this natural water 
haven would be on a par with Germany's possession 
of Helgoland and England's control of Gibraltar and 
the Suez. It would help make the Monroe Doctrine 
a fact instead of a pronunciamento. 

The defense of the Gulf of Mexico is our means 
of protecting the Mississippi Valley and its tributaries, 
which means all of the land between the Appalachian 
and the Rocky mountains. With our coasts properly 
defended the Mexican land border and the Canadian 
border would be problems of easy solution. 

Those who will regard the future of the United 
States as a thing to be left to chance cannot be inspired 
with the proper spirit. We have assumed our place 
among nations, declared our intention to resist foreign 
aggrandizement in the western hemisphere and are in 



124 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

duty bound to be prepared to give force to our words. 
Our record of good faith to all nations and our punc- 
tilious performance of an assumed duty in Cuba, are 
the best evidence that the world could ask that in any- 
thing we engage in our purpose will be unselfish and 
our aim to benefit not only ourselves but mankind. 
Under these conditions coast and border defense does 
not become a local matter but one which should com- 
mand the consideration of Senators and Congressmen 
from every State and the undivided support of our 
people. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ORGANIZING DRAFTS ON BASIS OF TWO 
YEARS' SERVICE. 

Estimating- the population of the United States 
at 110,000,000, we have a regular army of less than 
one-tenth of one per cent, of our citizens. With an ef- 
fective force of less than 250,000 m'en the U. S. army 
cannot properly patrol our Mexican border and man 
our forts and army posts. 

Our navy calls for less than 80,000 men or one to 
every thirteen hundred seventy-five of our population 
and our state militia, embracing about 100,000 effec- 
tives, equals less than one-tenth of one per cent, of our 
people. Our total armed forces are, therefore, less 
than 400,000 or in the ratio of one armed guardian to 
every 275 inhabitants. The inadequacy of such a 
force does not need to be debated. That the United 
States should adopt a universal military service basis 
was realized before the world war brought us into 
the position where we have armed for our self-pro- 
tection. 

It is estimated that there are available in the 
United States 21,000,000 men between the ages of 18 
and 40 and from this number fully 4,000,000 will be 
found capable of performing military service. It 
should be the purpose of the army to organize upon 
a basis by which 400,000 youths who reach the age 



126 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

of 20 or 21 each year will be brought under miUtary 
training". The various plans for the term of service may 
be determined upon after careful consideration, but 
the soundness of the theory of recruiting the army 
by such a draft is too patent to require long debate 
by Congress or by the military authorities. Our peo- 
ple are showing their patriotism in every possible 
way and the young men in every state can be depend- 
ed upon to serve with honor and not be brought under 
military control by duress. 

We have no reserves similar to those in Germany, 
France, Austria and Italy or Great Britain. When 
our men in the regular army serve their enlistment 
they pass out of the service with a full and honorable 
discharge. This should be modified so as to have the 
men enroll each year and pass into the reserve after a 
period of two years' continuous service and two years 
in the first reserve. The United States cannot escape 
the impelling necessity of mobilizing its manhood for 
great military operations, and should enact a universal 
military training law. In the next five years it would 
create, under gradual and normal conditions, an army 
that would augment the present regular standing 
army by at least 400,000 recruits yearly, with an equal 
number passing out of active service after the second 
year. 

By 1921 there would be upwards of 2,000,000 
trained men in the United States as an adequate first 
line of defense. At the same time the navy should 
be recruited on a basis to bring it to the standing of 
200,000. The yearly percentage of men joining the 
colors under a universal military service plan for the 
naval division should be approximately 50,000. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 127 

In making plans for the new drafts for army and 
navy under universal service adequate army equip- 
ment for field units should be accumulated so that in 
heavy field artillery, light artillery, signal service 
equipment, aviation corps, medical corps, commissary 
and foot soldiers, cavalry and base depot stafif equip- 
ment, there would be on hand and available at camps, 
storehouses and magazines, a mobile equipment in 
readiness for instant use and with which the men 
were thoroughly familiar. 

When the United States reaches a total popula- 
tion of 125,000,000 which, it is estimated, will be the 
growth of the country by 1924, we will be upon a 
war footing that would make this country the most 
powerful in the world in view of its native resources, 
its industrial activity and the number of its trained 
reservists. It would then have power to take the ag- 
gressive on sea as well as land against any foe. 

In place of being an argument in behalf of war, 
adequate preparedness and the universal military ser- 
vice program is the best insurance the nation could 
have for permanent peace. Were we to reach a point 
where armed forces on land and sea totaled a million 
in the army and navy with a reserve of 4,000,000, in 
1924 it would still represent but four per cent, of the 
population of the country as then estimated at 125,- 
000,000. Certainly this would not be militaristic. 
Back of this army there should be an industrial force 
of 10,000,000 men trained in the production of mun- 
itions and unified in their various activities in all lines 
of industry, including agriculture, mining, manufac- 
turing and transportation. 

With the United States thus attainino- its full de- 



128 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

gree of preparedness by gradual stages over a period 
of years, the work would be done at the lowest cost 
in original outlay and could be maintained upon the 
most economical basis. Whether we are to be granted 
years to prepare or must reach our necessary military 
strength by a sudden and violent effort, depends 
not upon our wishes but the events of the world 
war. Prudence, based on the inherent love of our 
people for peace, should prompt us to lose no time in 
making the necessary start to reach armed prepared- 
ness as the best guarantee of restoring national peace. 
Let us adopt universal military training as the dem- 
ocratic method of performing our duty to home and 
country. 

We are at war with the Teutonic Allies and must 
move as though the battles on land and sea were to 
be fought on our soil and off our coasts. Nothing but 
full preparedness will suffice. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



ORGANIZING FINANCIAL RESOURCES. 

All war operations divide themselves into three 
co-ordinate parts. First, the raising, training and 
manoeuvering of men in the army and navy; second, 
the equipment and maintenance of armed forces, and 
third, the financing of the cost of war. All of 
these activities are controlled by the Government 
and are determined by the political power in each 
country. 

In the United States we are governed by a Con- 
stitution that is given force through an executive de- 
partment with the President as the Chief Executive, 
Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy ; Congress, 
composed of the Senate and the House of Representa- 
tives, and a judiciary, headed by the United States 
Supreme Court. These co-ordinating departments 
give initiative, direction and ultimate sanction to all 
activities. 

In modern times the mobilization of the financial 
resources of a country is easier to accomplish than in 
earlier ages when means of communication were un- 
certain and gold and silver were looked upon as the 
only basis upon which to establish credit. The world 
war which has called for the issuance of nearly a hun- 
dred billion dollars in thirty-three months by all of 
the belligerents, and which has forced the neutrals 



130 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

of Europe and elsewhere to mobilize their armies and 
navies and entail enormous expense, has been accom- 
plished by the issuance of bonds, short term notes and 
the flotation of war emergency paper money. 

At the outset of the war it was realized that with 
Great Britain, Russia, France and Japan allied, 
the probabihty of their victory was stronger than that 
the Teutonic Allies would triumph. This gave to the 
Entente Allies a stronger credit throughout the world 
than that enjoyed by Germany, Austria-Hungary or 
Turkey. The sale of war bonds by all of the Entente 
belligerents has been widespread and bankers in the 
United States have participated in the flotation of huge 
loans. When it was seen that the war would probably 
fulfill Lord Kitchener's prediction and extend over 
three years it was realized that prodigious efforts 
would have to be made to raise funds. Expenditures 
climbed until the belligerents were spending hundreds 
of millions of dollars a month and now it is estimated 
that Great Britain alone is expending thirty-five 
million dollars a day. Such staggering sums could 
not be provided for unless the resources of the Em- 
pires were drawn upon. 

Gold has long since ceased to be the actual basis 
for credits and the good will of the Entente Allies 
together with the deposit of collateral, in the shape of 
American railway bonds and industrial stocks and se- 
curities, have been pledged. To the hundreds of 
millions and eventually to the billions of dollars that 
have been raised by the sale of bonds and notes, the 
belligerent nations have increased their revenues by 
imposing high tarifif duties, internal revenue taxes, in- 
come taxes, corporation taxes, inheritance taxes and 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 131 

miscellaneous tolls on the activities of their citizens as 
well as neutrals who trade with them. The issuance of 
emergency currency has also helped to fill the ex- 
chequers and the rehabilitation of silver as a medium 
for small currency has been resorted to. 

In applying the lessons of the world war to Amer- 
ican finance it can be stated that our bankers through 
their close association with Great Britain and her 
Allies have learned how to handle enormous bond 
issues and to sell the notes of foreign nations in this 
country. Further, through the activity of private 
American banking houses, hundreds of millions of 
dollars' worth of merchandise has been purchased and 
arrangements have been made for payment, part in 
cash and part in the bonds and notes of the belliger- 
ents, for munitions, 

In our time of stress the United States now has a 
completely organized banking system under the Fed- 
eral Reserve Act that will give immediate facility 
for the issuance of a bond offering by the Federal Gov- 
ernment, by State governments and municipalities. To 
absorb such ofiferings there are the national banks, the 
state banks, our trust companies, the savings banks 
that are privileged to take State, municipal and Fed- 
eral bonds and our private bankers. As a cap stone 
to all of these agencies there is the American public 
that can be reached by an appeal for direct popular 
subscriptions such as have been made in Great Britain 
and throughout Europe. On bonds of one hundred 
dollar denomination or smaller, popular subscription 
would be assured and the enormous increase of postal 
and savings bank deposits may be taken as an indica- 
tion that Americans would turn to the government 



132 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

war issue and absorb it instantly, at a moderate inter- 
est rate. 

It is regarded as fortunate that the Federal bank- 
ing laws which were poorly fitted for the rapidly grow- 
ing needs of American commerce have been revised 
and that all of our States have adequate banking de- 
partments which give the people confidence in our 
financial institutions. In the absorption of any issu- 
ance of bonds of the Federal Government or the State 
governments the insurance companies will form one 
of the great avenues through which sales en bloc can 
be attained. 

As to the facility of the Government to issue 
war emergency money it is more fortunately situated 
than any other government in the world. We have 
the large deposits of silver and, with Alaska and the 
products of our home mines, we are the greatest pro- 
ducers of gold in the world. These prime 
monetary metals place us where we would have 
actual coin to give stability to our paper is- 
sues. Besides these resources the credit of the 
United States would be good, just as that of the 
Allies has proven good, in the disposition of contracts 
for munitions and other war expenditures. Our great 
industrial organizations would be as ready to accept 
part payment in the notes of the United States as they 
have been to extend this credit to Great Britain and 
her Allies. Such a recourse would not have to be 
taken unless the United States was engaged in a life 
and death struggle in a war without allies. 

However, it is a source of national good fortune 
and should be a matter of deep gratification that we 
are plentifully provided in natural reserves and also 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 133 

have the necessary financial machinery for raising all 
funds necessary for the accomplishment of prepared- 
ness. If need be, we can get the money tor carry- 
ing on war on any scale. Since the outbreak of the 
world war the United States has passed from a debtor 
nation to a creditor nation and our balance of trade 
runs into the billions. When the peace negotiation?* 
are settled it is estimated that the United States will 
be in possession of more gold than has ever been in 
the hands of any people before at one time, and that 
it will have billions of dollars of debts due to its peo- 
ple and that its trade dominance will make it a rival, 
if not a paramount factor, to Great Britain. Under 
these circumstances there is no occasion for any one 
to question the stability of the United States from a 
financial standpoint in the present war. We have dis- 
counted the sentimental, industrial and financial con- 
sequences and there is no occasion for a breakdown of 
our stock exchanges, financial institutions, commercial 
org'anizations or for the impairment of the credit of 
the Government. Co-operation and loyalty are the 
two factors that will keep the wheels of business turn- 
ing. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

PREPARING FOR NATIONAL PRICE CONTROL 
OF NECESSITIES, 

One of the great advantages which will accrue to 
the entire world from the war, which now involves 
practically all nations, will come from the lessons of 
economy, thrift and efficiency which have been forced 
upon belligerents and neutrals during the many months 
of conflict. With the interruption of general communi- 
cation and, in many instances, in its total paralysis, 
industrial nations were seriously hampered through the 
non-delivery of raw materials and other goods neces- 
sary for the conduct of their complicated industries. 
The United States was especially aflfected as the En- 
tente Allies placed an embargo on wool, rubber and 
many other articles of indispensable value to our in- 
dustries. Germany imposed a drastic embargo on the 
exportation of dyestuffs and only released goods in 
driblets as a means of diplomatic conciliation, finally 
closing down even on this meagre supply. 

With prices advanced on all commodities in the 
United States and with wage advances, the question 
of conserving our public resources became constantly 
more serious and, beginning in December, 1916, the 
problem of the high cost of living became so acute that 
Governors, mayors of large municipalities and the Fed- 
eral Government began special investigations to as- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 135 

certain why such products as butter, eggs, flour and 
other commodities, including potatoes, onions and gar- 
den vegetables, continued to advance to unparalleled 
prices. While due allowance was given for shortage of 
crops on cereals and on some vegetables, it was realized 
that lack of proper means of distribution was at the 
bottom of the whole situation. 

Investigators have come to the conclusion that a 
national bureau of price supervision should be organ- 
ized so that it could be instantly operative in the event 
of the United States being involved in a serious war. 
This would provide for sub-committees in all distribut- 
ing points who would report as to the quantity of mer- 
chandise available in their community and the average 
price covering a period of ten years, or more. The 
Government could then fix a proper price and compel 
its maintenance by all vendors in a given zone. This 
would not work to the disadvantage of those who 
were disposing of merchandise at a point far distant 
from the source of supply, but could be accomplished 
in much the same manner as the parcel post zones 
are established. In any regulation of the distribution 
of national necessities it would not require the super- 
imposing of the rule of the nation in an irksome or 
confiscatory manner. Justice should be the guiding 
purpose and just as the full capacity of the Postoffice 
Department is available for the sender of a postal card 
or the smallest package by parcel post as it is to the 
banker who may desire to send bonds or actual cash 
by registered letter, the Bureau of Price Control should 
see that large shippers and retail purchasers should be 
given equal protection. 

With this country, the greatest producer of wheat, 



136 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

corn, oats, potatoes, hay, cotton, cotton seed oil prod- 
ucts, sugar, rye, barley, beans, and producing abundant 
supplies of rice and other cereals, fruits and vegetables, 
there should be no such thing as famine in any section 
of the country. Where a shortage of food exists it is 
due to improper distribution, monopolistic hoarding 
or to down-right inefficiency. 

Our supplies of gasoline, copper, lead, zinc, iron. 
steel products, lumber and fertilizers all come from 
limitless reserves provided in various sections of tne 
country by nature, which makes this country industri- 
ally independent. 

In the matter of providing dairy products, poultry 
and eggs, beef, pork, mutton and game, our country 
has made wonderful progress during the past fifty 
years. This has been due in great measure to the large 
packing organizations that have maintained their own 
refrigerating cars and other rolling stock. It has been, 
however, chiefly due to the scientific development of 
handling perishable goods by our express companies. 
These privately-owned organizations, operating over 
the entire railroad systems of the country, and 
throughout the world, have not limited their efiforts to 
the carrying of merchandise as offered at their depots 
and collection stations, but have exercised sound busi- 
ness judgment in educating the farmers, fruit growers 
and general producers of all classes of edibles to de- 
pend upon express service for getting merchandise to 
a market. Radiating from every large center of popu- 
lation are railroads that extend into the rural districts 
and the express companies have established their of- 
fices along these lines and have been unfailing in their 
collection and prompt despatch of perishable merchan- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 137 

disc to profitable markets. The records of handling 
fruit shipments from Florida to the North Atlantic 
coast cities and from southern California to the At- 
lantic are unparalleled in transportation history. The 
same is true of the shipments of apples and other 
hardy fruits from the Northwest and the Pacific coast 
to points throughout the United States and to foreign 
countries. 

All of this service has been built up under the 
guidance of executives who operate privately-owned 
utilities. These men have solved the problems and 
have done so under stress of public criticism and gov- 
ernmental restriction. They have performed great serv- 
ice to the country and today the lessons which they 
have learned through hard experience are available 
in the matter of establishing plans for price control- 

We have abundant fisheries and the work of the 
various States with the Federal Government and 
municipalities should be centralized in the matter of 
formulating proper rules for price control of fresh and 
preserved fish. 

At this time, instead of working at odds, all execu- 
tives, who have experience in transportation and in 
handling business for the public, should be invited to 
co-operate with the representatives of the people in 
formulating the best plans in the shortest time. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

NATIONAL CONTROL OF LABOR. 

It often takes a national calamity or crisis to 
awaken the thought of a people on questions affecting 
their social welfare. No instance of this has been 
more graphically impressed upon the minds of the 
public than that connected with the eight hour railroad 
regulation law, known as the Adamson Act, which 
was rushed through Congress in the heat of the polit- 
ical campaign in 1916 to become operative within forty- 
eight hours after it was first promulgated in the House 
of Representatives. This was "steam roller" legisla- 
tion and has had its re-action. People who gave 
little thought to what militant unionism meant were 
startled to know that the representatives of four 
unions could compel an unconditional surrender of 
the Government under threat of a universal railroad 
strike. 

In the months which have intervened since August, 
1916, it has been shown that in place of labor and 
capital coming closer together they are drifting apart 
and that the issue must be squarely met as to whether 
the Government, representing the people as a whole, 
or unionism, representing a distinct and thoroughly 
organized minority, is to control. 

The United States Supreme Court decision, on a 
divided vote of 5 to 4, has declared the Adamson Act 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 139 

constitutional, as an emergency move to avert national 
paralysis of our transportation service. 

The United States Government has the power of 
eminent domain by which it can take possession with 
adequate compensation of any property or instru- 
mentality. It has the right as a sovereign to demand 
the personal service of any citizen. Under these two 
cardinal powers the regulation of labor can be accom- 
plished. In applying its supreme power the Govern- 
ment is able to collect taxes and impose all necessary 
regulations for the orderly conduct of the will of the 
people and the peace of the State. It, therefore, is not 
a matter of debate as to the right of the Federal gov- 
ernment to control labor when unions attempt to over- 
step the freedom which their members, together with 
all other citizens, are entitled to enjoy in common. 

In an emergency a United States Bureau for the 
Control of Labor should b.e clothed with full power 
to regulate wages, conditions and hours of employ- 
ment; these might be based upon an average wage of 
the two years immediately preceding the date of gov- 
ernmental action. 

In any industry that is subject to strikes the Gov- 
ernment should be empowered to at once declare the 
"open shop" policy to be operative and extend full 
protection to new operatives who apply for work. 
Provision should be made for setting aside any restric- 
tions or union regulations that now prohibit women 
from entering various lines of work. This was found 
to be one of the most serious drawbacks in Great 
Britain, Germany, France and Italy at the outbreak 
of the war. When the manpower of these nations was 
shown to be inadequate to meet the stress, the unions 



140 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

had to suspend their regulations so that women could 
do their share in helping to preserve the integrity of 
their governments. 

A careful examination of the conflicting Federal 
law^s, State statutes and municipal ordinances that af- 
fect labor should be made so that they could ail be 
properly harmonized and brought under the ruling 
control of Federal law to be operative during the term 
of the war. A nation at war may be properly likened 
to the occupants of a boat's company adrift at sea. 
All have to unite for mutual safety and the personal 
rights of each must give way before the common 
rights of all. 

Free, or non-union, labor, as it is contemptuously 
termed by those who always cast a slur at any one 
who is not in possession of a union ticket, will prove 
to be the backbone of our industrial preparedness. 
Where we have a manpower of 23.000,000 men and 
6,000,000 women in this country who now earn their 
living and could draw probably upon an additional 
20,000,000, there are but 2,000,000 union operatives. A 
nation which would bow to the dictation of such a 
minute fraction of its potential labor force would be 
senile and deserving of defeat. 

Full protection must be given to free labor to en- 
gage in work of all kinds. In place of making further 
restrictions and undermining individual liberty, which 
is assured us in our Constitution, the people, as a 
whole, should see that unionism makes no further 
aggressions during the war. 

In the countries which have mobilized millions of 
men and hundreds of thousands of women to work be- 
hind their field armies, the questions have been asked : 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 141 

"What right has any stay-at-home to refuse to work 
or to accept a fair wage? What right has any one 
who is a slacker when called to take up arms for his 
country to object to work alongside of willing men 
in any industry?" A strike in times of war is sedition, 
and constitutes the basest act that a man can perform 
against his country and humanity. 

We must declare an equally firm stand against 
those who would place self-interest before the welfare 
of their country. 



CHAPTER XX. 

ORGANIZATION OF FOREIGN INFORMATION 
BUREAU. 

It seems contrary to the free and open-handed 
spirit of the American people to be obliged to think 
of organizing a foreign information bureau on the lines 
of the Russian Secret Service, the Scotland Yards Se- 
cret Service of Great Britain and those secret service 
organizations maintained by all first-class nations. 

The results of the world war, however, have shown 
that political and military intrigue is something that 
can only be combatted by advance information and a 
careful scrutiny of the actions of the prime powers in 
all parts of the world. While we were according the 
most courteous treatment to the Ambassadors of Ger- 
many and Austria-Hungary, these officials and their 
staffs, as well as all their subordinate representatives 
and hirelings throughout the United States and our 
possessions, were surreptitiously engaged in fomenting 
revolution in this country and in inciting other nations 
with whom we were at peace to acts of furtive violence 
and even open assault against the United States. 

With the responsibility for the welfare of 110,000,- 
000 people directly under the control of the United 
States Government, the authorities in Washington can- 
not go in ignorance of what is transpiring throughout 
the world. Information which is known to everybody 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 143 

is of little value and it is the business of a foreign in- 
formation bureau to keep its government fully apprised 
of all important events that have any relation to the 
welfare of the country. 

In" the matter of establishing our information 
bureau on a wider and more efficient scale than here- 
tofore, we must have representatives who will look out 
for the commercial interests as well as to take heed 
of political conditions. The great commercial strength 
of the British Empire and of Germany grew from the 
fact that their foreign representatives who were the 
Consuls or agents, always kept their eyes open for 
trade advantages and were the most effective "drum- 
mers" that those nations could have. 

One of the requirements for our foreign informa- 
tion bureau is that it contain in its personnel men who 
are familiar with several foreign languages. The old 
custom of sending Americans to foreign courts who 
were unable to speak either French, German, Italian, 
Spanish, or any of the other European languages, 
placed us in a most unfortunate position. It required 
that every word spoken by our representatives had to 
be translated by an interpreter. The contempt and 
scorn with which foreign nations still regard "ignorant 
Yankees" is proverbial. With our cosmopolitan popu- 
lation it is not a difficult matter to find competent men 
who, from their childhood, have been made familiar 
with two or more languages. This follows from their 
parents having been foreign-born, or the first or second 
generation from foreign-born emigrants to this country. 

In our early Colonial days, when more than 90 per 
cent, of our people were English, or speaking the Eng- 
lish language, there might have been some excuse for 



144 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

our foreign representatives being unable to speak in 
any other than their native tongue. 

In place of making appointments to the foreign 
service on a political patronage basis, it should be on 
the qualifications in education and business com- 
petence that would be exercised by a private corpora- 
tion in selecting its foreign agents. 

It is of the most vital importance that the army 
and navy should have separate and efficient military 
secret service agents throughout the world. This 
branch of service is of extreme value in view of the 
present world war and the certainty that combinations 
of powers after the war or a sudden coalition of nations 
during its progress must not be made without the 
United States being fully aware of the situation. The 
mere announcement that German intrigue had planned 
to form a triple alliance between Germany, Japan and 
Mexico for the purpose of attacking the United States 
and dismembering the Union came as a shock to this 
country. It is only one of the many schemes that im- 
perialists engender when they are engaged in war. 
The altruistic belief we have held that the United 
States was dear to the heart of all other nations is suf- 
fering a rude awakening. 

We have benefited by the world war to the present 
date to a greater extent than all the scattered neutral 
nations combined and have received very high 
prices for everything we have furnished to the Entente 
Allies. We have not cultivated the friendship of Great 
Britain and her Allies, or Germany and her Allies, and 
at the conclusion of the war we must stand in a posi- 
tion of almost complete isolation. This requires that 
in all parts of the world we should have the benefit 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 145 

of information secured by our own representatives and 
capable of being transmitted to us without being cen- 
sored or misinterpreted. We must in future maintain 
our own international mail routes and inter-continental 
wireless and cable service. 

Our entrance into the war toward the close of the 
third year finds us unprepared in the matter of an 
international secret service. This weakness must be 
rectified at the earliest opportunity. 

It is from our institutions of learning, from the 
great body of alumni from American universities, col- 
leges and academies, that we can draw a supply of men 
and women who are fitted by education and environ- 
ment to assume the di'fficult diplomatic and dangerous 
military tasks embraced under a foreign information 
bureau. No American could do more for his country 
than to qualify for this indispensable work. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

UNIFICATION OF CIVIL GOVERNMENTS. 

During a period of war the weakness of a republic 
is emphasized owing to the fact that it is a govern- 
ment controlled by the people and subject to sudden 
changes of opinion. In the case of the United States, 
which represents forty-eight sovereign States and with 
territories represented by delegates in Congress, popu- 
lar clamor and revulsions of feeling find immediate 
translation into hurried acts that greatly embarrass 
the Executive department and the Army and Navy. 
This was the situation which confronted the country 
during the Civil War and was evident in a lesser de- 
gree during all of our other wars. We have had Tories, 
Copperheads, anti-Imperialists and Pacifists to deal 
with. 

Taking as a pattern the European nations and 
Great Britain, which have undergone the stress of the 
most gigantic war in history, it is shown that the wise 
course for the United States to pursue is to establish 
a Grand Council of the States to correspond to the 
council of the Entente Allies. When Great Britain. 
Russia, France, Italy, Japan and the other countries 
acting in concert determined to conduct their war 
against the Teutonic Allies by a perfectly concerted 
movement instead of by separate attacks, they began 
holding councils in London, Paris and Rome. These 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 147 

have resulted in the harmonious development of a 
campaign to tighten the "ring of steel" around the 
Central Powers. 

With the United States each of the States is a 
sovereign having its own government, its own laws 
that are supreme within the State domain and that 
are not subject to Federal interference unless they 
are contrary to the Constitution and Statutes of the 
United States. In times of peace this does not work 
any serious hardships or create dangerous complica- 
tions between the States, as matters can always be 
adjusted through an appeal to the United States 
Supreme Court. However, in the stress of war these 
long and unavoidable delays in the adjudication of dis- 
putes are a national menace. 

As it is possible for the Federal government to 
exercise its right of eminent domain in the matter 
of compelling military service, commandeering real 
property and requisitioning supplies, so it is possible 
by prearrangement through the activities of a Grand 
Council of the States to have a proper unification of 
the governments of the several States to work with 
the Federal government. 

This would give immediate uniform national 
character to Federal orders and there would be no 
confusion either in the executive or legal departments 
of the several States in carrying out the work of na- 
tional defense. A proper development of this plan 
would provide for the instant and identical issuing 
of proclamations by the Governors of States acting 
as a committee of the whole for the States of the 
Union. It would avoid the delays of having each 
State laboriously work out a plan for giving direct 



148 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

force to the suggestions and requests of the Govern- 
ment. 

As. an instance, in the present war, if this plan 
were in operation, a proclamation directly requesting 
the press of the country to refrain from publishing 
news regarding the movements of shipping would be 
immediately operative. Another immediate order 
which would be timely and possibly save lives and 
loss of property would be one regarding the manufac- 
ture, handling or storage of explosives. As it Is, every 
State has its own laws and municipalities within the 
State borders have varying laws regarding the hand- 
ling of explosives. What is a harmless act in one 
State may be a misdemeanor or crime in another. In 
time of war, when plots are being carried out within 
our borders, the most drastic measures for safety of 
life and property should be enforced and be made 
uniform. All of this could be accomplished in advance 
by a concerted action and the States would not be 
robbed of their cherished "State rights" which would 
be only subordinated for the general welfare of the 
nation. 

We have found that the constitution with its pro- 
vision for executive, legislative and judicial branches 
is adequate for all of our domestic relations and up 
to the present time has sufificed to properly care for 
our limited foreign relations. 

Now that world treaties are not abrogated, but 
ruthlessly violated, and the most sacred rights of hu- 
manity are treated with scorn, the slow process of 
deliberate legislation cannot form an adequate protec- 
tion to the nation. The United States should have a 
system for perfect co-ordination which would permit 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 149 

of tnc Federal government and the governments of 
the States acting as a committee of the whole for the 
welfare of the nation. 

I'his could properly include a supreme act of 
united sovereignty in which the President of the 
United States could address the Senate and House in 
joint session with the Supreme Court attending in «i 
body and the Governors of all the States admitted to 
the assembly by special invitation. Any announce- 
ment of action for offence or defense, ordered at such 
a time, would be given the force of a united people 
speaking through their executives and legislators and, 
with the high court of last resort present and cognizant 
of the methods and purposes of the nation. This would 
be the expeditious way to meet a crisis. 

Such a course would dispense with delays and 
solidify the thought of the nation. 

At the same time that executives succeeded in 
unifying the actions of the States to the Federal gov- 
ernment, the co-operation of State courts should be 
effective so that the decrees and processes could be 
made uniform and expeditious. The Civil War estab- 
lished the fact that this is a Union of States, one and 
indivisible. The United States extends the benefit and 
protection of the entire Union to each of its constitu- 
ent States, and, through mutual loyalty, each State 
must remain in and support the Union. So in times 
of war the Federal laws and the Federal requirements 
must take immediate and complete precedence over 
State laws. It has been shown in the great world war 
that the power of Great Britain to take action through 
its general orders in council, to issue mandates and 
proclamations that become operative throughout the 



150 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

realm and which affect all of the foreign relations of 
the Empire is the direct method for a great nation to 
pursue." 

Applied to the United States it means that each 
State in this war of great magnitude should at once be 
in a position to subordinate its privileges and its cus- 
toms to the supreme need of the nation. Whenever 
Great Britain has taken action during the war through 
its Orders in Council, whether affecting the blockade, 
articles to be declared contraband, embargoes or any 
other matter of prime importance, all of the constitu- 
ent parts of the Empire — Australia, Canada, India, the 
African possessions and all of the minor territorial 
elements — have accepted the enactments at once and 
accommodated their local conditions accordingly. Great 
Britain's supreme navy and her now stupendous army 
of 5,000,000 men gives force and emphasis to her acts. 

Back of the United States there stands a united 
people and they need only to act with the same 
promptitude, directness and effectiveness as the Euro- 
pean powers and Great Britain to be able to accom- 
plish definite results for preparedness, and, in the con- 
duct of this war, to be competent to act with success. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

ORGANIZATION OF INSULAR AND DISTANT 
DEFENSE. 

When the great world powers of continental 
Europe were partitioning Africa and acquiring "zones 
of influence" in Asia, South America and in the great 
Indian Archipelago, of which Australia is the centei, 
the territory embraced in the present United States 
was under the control and dominance of France, Spain 
and Great Britain, with minor holdings in the control 
of Holland and Portugal. Thus from 1492 to the out- 
break of the Spanish-American War in 1898 no oppor- 
tunity had been taken advantage of by the people in 
the Western Hemisphere to acquire possessions in 
any part of the Eastern Hemisphere, including Europe, 
Asia, Africa and Australia. 

From our first efforts as a nation to extend our 
possessions we acquired the Louisiana territory by 
purchase from France; later we purchased Florida 
from Spain, and acquired Texas, New Mexico, Arizona 
and part of California through the treaty resulting 
from the Mexican War. We rounded out our posses- 
sion in this direction by the later Gadsden purchase. 
Our next move in the way of acquiring territory was 
the purchase from Russia of Alaska, embracing 500,000 
square miles, or land equal to one-sixth of the territor}' 
of the United States. 



152 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

We next became possessed of the Hawaiian 
Islands and in the treaty of peace of Paris signed at 
the termination of the Spanish-American War in 189S 
we became possessed of the Philippine Islands, Porto 
Rico, Guam and other minor insular holdings. This 
has placed the United States in the list of nations that 
are termed empires. It involves our protecting distant 
territory, whether on this continent or on the other 
side of the world. It imposes upon the United States 
the establishment of a colonial department and the 
maintenance of army and navy bases in the far Pacific, 
as well as at the northern extremity of this continent, 
to protect Alaska. 

With the completion of the Panama Canal another 
territorial asset came into possession of this country, 
but it, also, involves the most serious obligations. 
While intact and properly defended it constitutes the 
greatest means of defense for the United States as it 
would give us an ability to double the strength of our 
naval or army forces which could be assembled in half 
the time that any foe could round Cape Horn. We 
would hold the same strategic advantage^on two 
oceans as Germany holds on the Baltic and North 
seas through the Kiel Canal. 

Under the disturbed conditions of the present war 
and with the inevitable readjustment that will be made 
when peace is concluded it becomes the solemn obliga- 
tion of the United States to properly equip and defend 
its insular and detached possessions. It has been 
written by mihtary experts from the earliest periods 
of history that an empire ceases to deserve the support 
of its people or the honor of the outside world when 
it fails to protect its citizens wherever located. This 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 153 

imposes upon nations having distant colonies the cre- 
ation and maintenance of a powerful navy. When 
Spain ruled the world her armadas of both war and 
merchant ships were invincible. When the nation 
sank to decadence Great Britain assumed control of 
the sea and in less than two centuries became the 
greatest land factor in the world, as well, a position 
she has never since relinquished. 

The spirit of loyalty engendered in all subjects of 
the British Empire has had its full illustration in the 
response that Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand 
and all her other possessions have made to the appeal 
for united support for the flag. 

The United States cannot be remiss in its Insular 
policy and must move immediately to develop proper 
defense for our possessions against any aggressors. 
The establishment of army bases and navy bases 10,000 
miles distant from our Pacific Coast are matters that 
cannot be lightly accomplisEed and the first requisite 
is a tonnage in merchant ships that can be used for 
freight and troop transport purposes. Military supply 
stations and accommodations for the protection of the 
civil inhabitants of our colonies are matters that re- 
quire the co-ordinate effort of the army, navy and 
civil government. That we have not proceeded fur- 
ther in this regard can be condoned only on the ground 
that world power is new to us. Under the urgent 
force of present circumstances and with the example 
of Great Britain, France, Japan, Portugal, and even 
Belgium, showing how distant territories can be pro- 
tected and made the starting points for successful ex- 
peditionary moves against an enemy, we should make 
our possessions invulnerable. 



154 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

What is needed more than anything else is a 
proper awakening in the minds of our own 110,000,000 
people as to what the holding of foreign possessions 
means. This could be properly accomplished by hav- 
ing a rotary service for the army, navy and civil gov- 
ernment officials. To have our army and navy officers 
and high executives in civil departments rotate from 
Alaska to Hawaii, to the Philippines, to the Panama 
Zone, to Guantanamo, Cuba, to Porto Rico, and then 
to stations in the United States, would be to give them 
some adequate idea of the extent and greatness of the 
United States and the need for co-operation. Officers 
and men in the army service would be made familiar 
with the varying climates, peoples, topographical 
features of the various possessions and the environing 
conditions of foreign territory and peoples. Their 
experiences and observations would be told in the 
households of America. 

The army and naval forces of this nation in time 
of peace could be utilized in perfecting fortifications 
and military strongholds at home and in the terri- 
tories. This need not take the form of having the en- 
listed men perform the most laborious tasks of manual 
labor, but rather of having the officers direct the work, 
and the enlisted men given an opportunity of assist- 
ing in operating mechanical equipment and of over- 
seeing native labor. Officers and men would observe 
the methods of creative military construction. The 
naval vessels of the United States could well be used 
for transporting ordnance, ammunition and munitions 
and such work would give the men practical experi- 
ence in performing duties that would afterward equip 
them for desirable positions in the mercantile marine 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 155 

service. The hide bound rules of military etiquette 
and order are fast giving away under the blows of the 
world's titanic war. Kings, even Czars, find that the 
"ancient order passeth." 

It is possible to formulate a plan by which men 
enlisted in the army and navy and stationed at posts 
or fortified ports could devote a part of their time to 
mechanical work of some kind in connection with the 
construction of sea walls, lighthouses, aqueducts, 
canals, earthworks, irrigation and other public works, 
and receive additional compensation. This would give 
proper vent to the progressive spirit of American man- 
hood which is not satisfied to rot in barracks or on 
shipboard and to drone along on $15.00 a month as an 
enlisted man in either the army or navy. If the train- 
ing for military service entailed the regular army and 
navy pay and in addition furnished, during a period of 
two years' enlistment, opportunity for earning several 
hundred dollars more in wages for extra work per- 
formed, the men would be better ofif and the Govern- 
ment would be accomplishing great public purposes 
in the most economical way. As now conducted the im- 
provements made for the army and for coast defense, 
for naval construction, and in all matters of Federal 
work, are done by men who are drawn from lines of 
civil activity. 

The daily record in the present war shows that 
the soldiers of all the combatants, as well as hundreds 
of thousands of prisoners and civilians, are being im- 
pressed into the service of performing tasks of manual 
and skilled labor. This has been a war of superhuman 
effort, applied more to mechanics than to the direct 
clash of armed forces. That the health of the armies 



156 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

in the field and those in reserve camps and training 
camps is maintained at a high percentage is declared 
to be largely attributable to the strenuous regime 
through which the men have to pass. From raw re- 
cruits to the trained soldier they have to do some form 
of labor and are earning their bread by the sweat of 
their brow. This makes them hard and sound and 
keeps them from being demoralized as has always here- 
tofore been the case when great armies were dead- 
locked by siege or trench inertia. 

If the citizens of the United States adopt the uni- 
versal service plan and find that their army and navy 
on its increased basis is performing myriad tasks of 
general benefit there will be no grudging of the cost, 
for, as a matter of economics, both the navy and army 
would then be more than self-supporting. They would 
be present as a means of defense and offense to com- 
pel peace and the men in active service would be 
making themselves into better citizens by systematic 
training and the fulfillment of a public duty. No field 
offers better opportunities for the application of these 
principles than the strengthening of our insular pos- 
sessions and it is to these that the serious attention of 
our Government should be directed. Nothing could 
be more humiliating than the acknowledgment that 
the United States at the first stage of the war suffered 
the loss of its distant possessions in the same manner 
that Germany found its over-seas empire of a million 
square miles stripped from it in the first year of the 
world war. 

We are a world power and must live up to the 
obligations, as well as seek to enjoy the benefits of this 
great distinction. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 157 

Adequate insular defense is inseparable from re- 
spect for our flag. The future of the United States is 
to be settled in the conflict we have just entered. In 
the event of our playing an important and valorous 
part we will win the respect of the world. Nothing 
can redound to our credit more than properly defend- 
ing our insular possessions. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

IMPROVEMENTS OF ROADS AND WATER- 
WAYS. 

Military observers attached to the armies of the 
European belligerents testify that the great success 
which attended the Germans in their early cam- 
paign through Belgium and France was made possible, 
not by reason of the railroad systems, but because of 
the perfect system of highways that existed in Ger- 
many, Belgium and the invaded portions of France. 
This made army transport and artillery movements 
possible and permitted the forward lunge of field 
armies aggregating three million men. No such 
gigantic undertaking was ever before recorded and 
could not have been accomplished over old dirt roads 
and country lanes. 

When the European war had developed further 
and the investment of Verdun was undertaken the 
effort of the German Crown Prince was to cut the 
line of communication between Verdun and Paris. 
If this had been done the citadel would have fallen. 
The French were resourceful enough, however, to util- 
ize their highways and they instituted an endless chain 
of motor trucks between Paris and Verdun which suf- 
ficed to bring ammunition and munitions for the be- 
leaguered garrison. In contrast the lack of properly 
constructed highways has been one of the great weak- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 159 

nesses in the Russian campaigns. The great distances 
between army depots in Russia and the eastern front 
have made it impossible for army transports to move 
freely. 

With these circumstances in mind and with the 
added incentive of giving the United States, the 
world's greatest producer of automobiles and certain 
to become the greatest user of motor trucks, a system 
of adequate national highways, good roads are some- 
thing which all States should unite in accomplishing. 

In place of having hundreds of thousands of men 
in our army and at our navy stations going through 
long, tedious drill, after they have attained a degree 
of proficiency, the hours of drill should be shortened 
and some creative work delegated to men on a fair 
basis of extra compensation. This would strengthen 
their physical and moral fibre and would practically 
make both branches of the service self-supporting. 
They should, for example, work on good road con- 
struction and waterway improvements and receive 
special compensation. 

With modern machinery the task of constructing 
roads is not as irksome as in the past when the labor 
consisted of manual efifort applied to shovel and pick. 
The use of machinery makes it possible for army 
officers and their men to perform a large percentage 
of construction work on highways and to make this 
part of their service to the Nation. In time of actual 
war it would be the army that would benefit from hav- 
ing good routes to travel and their support in the field 
would be uninterrupted. So as to accomplish a plan 
of national road improvement the navy could co- 
operate with the army in the transport of cement, 



160 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

crude oil and gasoline needed for the actual construc- 
tion of the roads and for operating road building ma- 
chinery. 

When such a task was allotted to the navy it 
would give them proper experience in handling bulk 
materials. Under conditions which the war college 
would impose these tasks would approximate the actual 
conditions of war. Upward of twenty million men in 
Europe have been engaged in doing manual tasks in 
connection with the conduct of the war, and while 
under enemy fire. If the same herculean efforts were 
applied in time of peace the greatest public improve- 
ments in the world would have been accomplished. 

In our nation, which hopes to quickly restore 
peace, the work that would be done by our army 
and navy would be lasting. In the several States the 
miHtia should have supreme supervision of the State 
roads improvement. This would take it out of 
politics and would make every foot of road within the 
State domain a military highway, to be kept up to a 
point of efficiency, under the direction of the State 
Adjutant-General. 

In actual work the State organizations, the Boy 
Scouts and all citizens who were enrolled to perform 
some duty in connection with national preparedness, 
could constitute themselves volunteer inspectors to see 
that the roads were kept in proper condition. Where 
washouts or natural wear of road surfaces required 
attention the nearest military headquarters could be 
apprised and the work accomplished without delay. 

Good roads would mean lower costs for all articles 
of food as it would give farmers all year round means 
for reaching markets. It would make travel agreeable 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 161 

and would take the people of our cities into the coun- 
try and bring the country dwellers to the cities. Tak- 
ing as an example the Lincoln Highway, this country 
could have at least six trans-continental and eight 
national highways running north and south. Thus 
gridironed, the United States would be in the same 
strong military position as Europe, which for centuries 
has maintained a good road policy. 

Of equal importance is the development of the 
national waterway routes. These are best adapted for 
the movement of troops and for large pieces of ord- 
nance and for transportation of supplies. There are 
canal systems in the United States which make pos- 
sible a conveyance of iron ore from Duluth to tide- 
water and grain from all the Great Lakes elevator 
centers to our Atlantic seaboard. 

Along the Atlantic coast there are systems of 
canals that are available for ships of small draught 
to pass from Boston to New York, from New York 
to Philadelphia, from the Delaware to the Chesapeake. 
The Dismal Swamp Canal, along the Virginia and 
North Carolina coasts which failed of definite accom- 
plishment during the past hundred years of agitation, 
is capable of being completed at a fraction of the cost 
of the Panama. This would give us an inside water 
route from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Aiming 
at first to make the route available for light draught 
boats it could be deepened year by year until finally 
available for sizable vessels. Our Great Lakes con- 
necting canals and the outlet to the St. Lawrence 
should also be developed. No railroad breakdown or 
temporary occupation of territory by an enemy could 
then blockade the sea coast States or prevent the in- 



162 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

terior States from getting their grain to market either 
to the Atlantic or Gulf States, if adequate inland water- 
ways are developed. The canal between Chicago and 
the Mississippi river should be made capable of use b> 
deep draught vessels and the Mississippi be made 
navigable as far toward its source as possible. With 
proper levees and the river dredged so as to give a 
deep water channel our great national resources could 
always move by water route. 

To show how important waterways are in time 
of war it is declared that Great Britain's initial defeat 
in the campaign against Bagdad followed because they 
had an inadequate water transport on the Tigris river. 
When this was rectified General Maude had an end- 
less supply of food and munition at his back and the 
road to Bagdad became a victorious march. 

An inland waterway for the south shore of Long 
Island connecting Montauk Point with Jamaica Bay 
and New York harbor is one of the most important 
matters that can be considered by the nation. It 
would serve to give a first line waterway protection 
to New York and Long Island Sound. With Hell 
Gate properly improved so that the deepest draught 
vessels can pass through at any tide and with Ambrose 
channel dredged as a forty-foot passage, New York 
and its vicinity, including New Jersey, Connecticut 
and the inside water route to New England, could' be 
made impregnable. 

No work at hand is of greater importance than 
that all of the States undertake land and waterway im- 
provements at once and push them to completion. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

MOBILIZATION OF WAR ESSENTIALS. 

At the outset of the war in which this country is in- 
volved the national supplies of foodstuffs, wool, cotton, 
copper and steel products must be conserved. This 
imposes upon the Federal authorities, and the State 
officials acting in concert with them, the duty to make 
an immediate survey of existing stocks, the comman- 
deering of reserve stocks and the control of the output 
from our fields, mines and factories. 

One of the first things that Great Britain did when 
the world v/ar opened was to put an embargo upon the 
sale of wool in Great Britain or any of the dominions. 
This automatically prevented Australia, Canada or any 
other constituent part of the empire from dissipating 
the all-essential wool supply. Another instant em- 
bargo was placed upon the disposition of crude rubber. 
As the war extended, and it was seen that the re- 
sources of the world would be drawn upon for all 
classes of materials, Great Britain and her Allies ex- 
tended the list of articles that were to be held subject 
to the order of the government. Jute and burlap were 
placed on this list and the India crop became subject 
to first call by the British army. The needs for bag- 
ging for transportation of foods and for making sand 
bags for trenches took precedence over any require- 
ments of a commercial character. 



164 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

In our country with its tremendous production 
of cotton, copper and steel products, it would be a 
national disgrace if we were to be short of these es- 
sentials during the war. The bureau of vital statistics 
in Washington has charts which show, over a period 
of years, the average production and selling prices of 
all classes of raw products and finished goods that 
would be needed in the hour of national mobilization 
and the economic and sensible method of arriving at 
the requirements of the Government and the price 
that should be paid, embraces striking an average over 
a given period of years. The same method should 
regulate the rate of wages. The fluctuations in the 
production of cotton show that our crop varies from 
twelve to sixteen million bales; our supply of wool is 
limited to something over three hundred million 
pounds and that the production of copper and steel 
products can be quickly and greatly intensified. In 
foodstuffs our crops of wheat, oats and all other 
cereals do not vary so radically that a fair average 
price cannot be determined upon. The evil of specu- 
lating in the enhancement of values under war condi- 
tions has been given a death blow by the other belliger- 
ents in the great conflict now raging. Except for the 
conditions over which the Allies have no control they 
are exercising strict regulation in the matter of price 
of goods sold to the several governments. 

In their purchasing of copper, ammunition and 
other goods from the United States where they cannot 
control our manufacturers or compel the sale of goods 
by requisition, they have been forced to pay high 
prices. This should be an object lesson to the United 
States government to be safeguarded against such a 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 165 

condition in our hour of need. When the necessities 
of the nation demand the purchase of great quantitiesj 
of oil, gasoline, coal, live stock and provisions, the 
momentary advantage of one class of citizens should 
not be permitted to force the nation into paying ex- 
tortionate prices. 

It must always be remembered that during a war 
men are peremptorily called upon to give their serv- 
ice, and if needs be their lives, for the defense of the 
government. When our soldiers and sailors are mak- 
ing such sacrifices it is little short of treason for those 
who remain in comparative safety to seek usurious 
advantage of the nation. 

It is beyond the realms of reason to expect that 
under a stress of conditions which called upon the 
Federal government to place an army of one, two, 
three, four or five million men in the field with the 
fifteen to twenty million people back of the first lines 
who would have to devote their undivided efiforts to 
producing the munitions that the Government could 
incidentally assume active operation of our railroad 
transportation facilities, our manufacturing plants and 
our agricultural activities. This would be imposing 
upon the Government the accomplishment of uni- 
versal socialism. The world is not ready for this step, 
and the United States, the freest of all countries, is 
the least able to adopt drastic socialistic methods. It, 
therefore, becomes an imperative duty of the Federal 
government and the States to adopt such regulative 
methods as will leave the greatest measure of indi- 
vidual freedom to the people in following their given 
vocations, but to put an efifective check upon specula- 
tion at the expense of the nation. We must be able to 



166 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

enforce the operation of our public utilities, the proper 
valuation of all products and achieve the most eco- 
nomic distribution of our resources. Such matters 
when attempted in haste cause confusion and develop 
inefficiency. We have all the precedents of the world 
war to show that republican France, imperialistic Ger- 
many and the democratic empire of Great Britaia 
could all accomplish this end as one of the necessities 
of the war. What these nations and their Allies have 
done this country can also accomplish and there is evi- 
dent throughout the land a disposition for men in 
high office and citizens in all stations of life to co- 
operate for national defense. As examples of what 
should be done and how to do it those interested in 
the wool, cotton, copper and the foodstuffs supplies of 
the nation should quickly formulate their plans and 
publish them so that they may be taken as patterns 
for others. The tabulation by card system of national 
resources falls far short of the actual working out of 
the possible plan of how to survey and control a 
product, the sale of which reaches into the hundreds 
of millions of dollars annually and which is distributed 
throughout the length and breadth of the land. The 
Government needs the assistance of all its citizens in 
helping to place America on a footing with other prime 
nations. In no direction is there a greater chance to 
serve the country than in showing how its resources 
can be conserved. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

WOMEN'S AUXILIARY DEFENSE SERVICE. 

Women have never failed to assume full responsi- 
bility in any crisis in the v^orld. They have borne 
their share of the toil and worries unassumingly in the 
tedi-^us development of mankind. It is only recently 
that they have had recognition given them in any ade- 
quate degree. With the outbreak of the European 
war it soon became evident that the manpower of the 
world was insufficient to meet the stupendous demands 
for every day work and at the same time furnish mil 
lions of men for the actual fighting. The women of all 
the belligerent countries and those in many neutral 
countries unhesitatingly volunteered their services. 
They have become wonderfully expert in lines of work 
never before attempted by them and have been instru- 
mental in releasing millions of men who would other- 
wise have been held back from active military service. 

It is fortunate that in the United States there is 
hardly a conceivable situation that could arise which 
would necessitate the mobilization of our women to 
the same extent as has been done in Europe and Great 
Britain. However,- there are many ways in which 
women can show their active patriotism in a time of 
war, and in all parts of the country there is evidence 
that our mothers, wives and sisters are not unmindful 
of the duty which they can perform. We have women's 



168 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

auxiliary corps already organized in connection with 
the Grand Army of the Republic and Confeder.aie 
Veterans- The members of the corps for many years 
have done charitable work in behalf of the veterans 
of our great war. They have recently extended their 
activities to cover the soldiers of the Spanish-American 
War and are now ready to act in the present crisis. 
There are medical aid societies, societies of nurses, 
Red Cross societies and patriotic orders that are al- 
ready in existence, which by resolution can speedily 
broaden their activities so as to become helpful in the 
hour of national trial. 

Built upon the patriotic societies that are based 
upon descent from patriots of the Colonial wars — 
Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War 
and Spanish-American War — there is offered the 
nucleus for a still greater patriotic order to include all 
those women who dwell in America and who have no 
higher ambition than to pledge their fealty to this 
country. It is the women who teach the growing gen- 
eration from, the cradle to maturity and shape their 
minds and govern the destinies of their children. If 
this country is to reach a state of adequate prepared- 
ness, it must be based upon universal military service. 
The greatest impetus which this plan could receive 
would be from the united expression of the mothers of 
America. No one in our country looks with favor 
upon a huge standing army and the development of 
a militant spirit, but it is appreciated that our liberty 
and our honor require that the nation should be able 
to defend its sovereignty. 

In place of having an undrilled citizen army, 
where thousands would be needlessly killed through 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 169 

their ignorance of military tactics, it is better that our 
country should be properly protected by a force 
representing the eligible manhood brought into the 
army and navy by means of a universal military service 
system. This would make every young man perform 
the duty of military service as part of his obligation 
to the nation. It would tend to intensify the democrat- 
ization of the country by bringing rich and poor to- 
gether through the comradeship of training and serv- 
ice and would place us where at all times a sufficient 
number of reservists would be available to take the 
field. 

Women are as practical as men in the matters of 
daily life and once the advantages of universal train- 
ing are explained they will sanction it. This will 
mean that their boys would not be taken from them 
for the purpose of waging aggressive wars, but would 
be trained during the age of 19 to 21 and brought to 
a degree of physical fitness that would give them a 
better start in life. 

In the event of a tremendous draft being made 
upon the manhood of the country, such as would be 
made necessary if we were invaded by a prime nation, 
women would be found capable of filling millions of 
positions that have heretofore been exclusively occu- 
pied by men. They are already strongly entrenched 
in the commercial world, and in the telephone and 
telegraph service, in the steam railway systems as 
clerical aids and in executive departments; they arc 
showing their capacity for sustained and capable serv- 
ice. In our munition factories and in the great manu- 
factories devoted to the production of clothing, pre- 
pared foods and many other lines women are already 



170 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

occupying many positions and performing their serv- 
ices with satisfaction. There are upwards of six mil- 
lion women in the United States who earn their living. 
This number could be doubled or tripled if necessity 
required. 

It is, however, in the homes that our women can 
perform the greatest service for the nation. If they 
will exercise the same thrift and economy that have 
been forced upon the peoples in European countries 
and in other parts of the world where war has made 
the pinch of poverty and famine felt, they will help 
solve a great economic problem. Women have been 
forced to resort to every device to make a scanty sup- 
ply of food provide for their requirements throughout 
the world for the past two and a half years. This 
proves their efficiency. 

Women's societies should be instructed in matters 
pertaining to the billeting of soldiers in time of war 
and in responding to demands for the delivery of sup- 
plies to the army under war conditions. They should 
also be given the necessary instruction of how non- 
combatants should act in the event of an enemy pass- 
ing through or occupying the territory in which their 
homes are located. This is most essential because in 
the present world war the German army in attacking 
Belgium has sought to justify its assaults upon non- 
combatants on the theory that the people of the coun- 
tryside resorted to ambush warfare against the 
invaders. This, while denied by the Belgians and ac- 
cepted as a mis-statement by the civilized world, im- 
presses the necessity of a nation carefully instructing 
its people in how to act under all circumstances inci- 
dent to war. The wholesale massacres of citizens in 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 171 

Belgian cities which were occasioned because of the fir- 
ing of random shots by what we know as "snipers'" 
should be made a lesson with which everyone in this 
country be made fully familiar. It is from the mouths 
of mothers that the earliest instruction in how children 
and adults should act under given circumstances must 
be imparted. Both our girls and boys should be given 
early rudimentary instruction in the duties of citizen- 
ship and be taught to act in an orderly manner so that 
mob violence will not be an incident to any war that 
this country may ever be involved in. The growing 
menace of militant unions can be more quickly checked 
by early admonitions in the home circle than by news- 
paper advice or repressive legislative enactments. The 
women of America have many problems to solve 
in helping the nation to reach preparedness, and they 
can do nothing better than to instil respect for the law 
in their children. When boys reach manhood they re- 
flect their early training. If our youths are taught that 
the welfare of the country is their highest duty they 
will obey its laws and through universal military serv- 
ice be prepared to defend their liberties from attack. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

BOY SCOUTS AND RESERVE CORPS. 

It would seem that the development of the boy- 
scout idea, which began a few years ago, was almost 
prophetic in the light of recent developments. In 
Europe and in Great Britain the idea found its origin 
and gradually it was taken up in this country more as 
a plan for getting city boys to acquire the habit of 
pedestrianism and to acquaint them with the beauties 
of the country. As soon as the world war quickened 
interest in military matters, the advantage of having 
hundreds of thousands of alert, patriotic boys schooled 
in the early rudiments of military training was ap- 
preciated by our army officers and educators. 

So from a small beginning the boy scout idea has 
spread throughout the country and there are many 
thousands of instructors who are giving valuable les- 
sons to boys in their teens so that they will form a 
serviceable body in case of emergency. In all of the 
European countries and Great Britain the services of 
boy scouts during the present war have been of real 
value. With an extension of their duties to act as 
messengers and in other capacities where alertness, 
loyalty and agility are requisite, the boys of this coun- 
try will be found ready to respond and fully depend- 
able. In carrying out the idea of a revival of the 
"American Minute Men," it is proper to state tha* the 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 173 

boy scouts will constitute a steady reservoir from 
which to draw Minute Men. On attaining the age of 
19 or 20, whichever may be determined by the army 
and navy as the age for universal military service, the 
boy scouts will begin their actual military training 
with much advanced knowledge and ability. 

If it is proper to instil the lessons of history in 
our youths during their school days, it is equally prop- 
er to teach them the rudimentary principles of drilling 
and the simpler tactics and the manual of arms. By 
having our schools include such instructions the ques- 
tion of national preparedness would be instilled in our 
youths when they are most susceptible of grasping 
ideas and the physical advantages of setting-up exer- 
cise and the general manliness which comes from ap- 
plying military carriage. Such advantages would 
bring our boys to maturity more efficient and healthier 
than they are at present. 

If our national holidays could be dedicated to 
proper observations that would embrace military re- 
views and the recital of inspiring and patriotic pages 
from American history, our children would have great- 
er love and respect for their flag and country. Wash- 
ington's and Lincoln's Birthday, Decoration Day, Flag 
Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day, in place of being 
occasions of nondescript character and with no definite 
incentive, universal participation by the people should 
make them events that would bring out the full 
national spirit. The boy scouts and the girls' auxiliary 
corps are best suited for accomplishing this end. When 
we have our women, our girls and boys appreciative 
of the advantages of free government and willing to 
do something definite and serviceable to maintain free- 



174 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

dom, we will have taken the greatest step toward con- 
tinuous- national preparedness. 

When it is impressed upon our younger genera- 
tion that they will be called upon on reaching matur- 
ity to make a personal sacrifice for their country, in 
devoting a fixed time to military training, they will 
regard their importance in the community and will 
be saved from many of the disadvantages which attach 
to undisciplined youth. No boy worthy of American 
citizenship would desire to shirk universal training, 
and, through association with boy scouts, he would 
unquestionably be brought into close relationship with 
boys of his own age and grow up with a real demo- 
cratic spirit. In place of being militaristic and danger- 
ous, universal military service as it is suggested for 
this country and as it is in force in France, Switzer- 
land and other countries, is a unifying and beneficial 
method of maintaining military power. Every encour- 
agement should be given to our boys to join boy 
scouts' organizations, and as rapidly as the States can 
be brought to pass necessary laws, universal drill 
and primary military training should be included in 
the regular school instructions. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



PROFESSIONAL MEN'S LEAGUE. 

To any one who has read newspapers closely dur- 
ing the past two and one-half years, it is apparent that 
the professional men, in all parts of the country, have 
shown a willingness and eagerness to give their best 
efforts to the development of national preparedness. 
Among those who have already made substantial 
progress in bringing their services to the support of 
the Government have been mechanical, electrical and 
civil engineers. As separate bodies, and acting under 
common impulse, they have aided in the preliminary 
survey of the nation's resources and members of these 
organizations have volunteered their services on the 
National Council of Defense and on State Committees. 

There has also been an almost unanimous declara- 
tion on the part of the medical profession to be ready 
to tender their services in time of actual war and many 
physicians have become warrant officers and commis- 
sioned officers in the United States army and navy 
subject to instant call. 

High officials in the railroad transportation serv- 
ice, our mercantile service and those connected with 
the telephone and telegraph public utilities, our wire- 
less and cable companies, have all come forward to 
express their desire to co-operate. The formation of a 
general professional men's league seems to be the 



176 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

proper step to take in order to unify the actions and 
to secure the maximum results from the proffered 
services of our professional men throughout the coun- 
try. There are experts who have in their possession 
the details of all lines of work, including the science 
of chemistry, and who have proven themselves to be 
possessed of the executive ability to cope with ques- 
tions of military supply. Other men, who from their 
prominence in cattle-raising, slaughtering industries, 
and the grain trade, are able to work to advantage with 
civil bodies, such as the professional men's league, in 
solving the food question arising from war. Above 
all others who have tendered their services and who 
are capable of performing great service to the country 
are the clergy and faculties in our universities and col- 
leges. These men who have a special training and 
who from a full knowledge of history know what 
would be the logical course of action can act as mem- 
bers of any councils held by the Federal government 
or State bodies. 

It is necessary that the activities of a general pro- 
fessional men's league should be divided into separate 
fields, and that certain men should be allotted to help- 
ing solve the problems for the army, others for the 
navy, and still others who would devote their time and 
efforts to keeping the machinery of our civil govern- 
ments in motion. The phrase, "They serve who only 
stand and wait" is ages old, but it carries with it the 
evidence that in the earliest days of civilization it was 
realized that any man who performed a given duty, 
whether in civil or military life, was giving the best 
that was in him to his nation. All cannot wear the 
uniform and assume command, and back of every 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 177 

trench line and every armored ship there must be re- 
serves who unceasingly labor to provide the arma- 
ment, munitions and provisions for active v/ar. The 
quiet, effective and patriotic efforts of America's pro- 
fessional men forms one of the greatest assets upon 
which the nation may rely in this war. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

MOBILIZATION OF HORSES, MULES, CATTLE 
AND MOTOR VEHICLES. 

Through the Department of Agriculture it is pos- 
sible to make a very accurate estimate of the number 
of horses, mules, cattle, sheep and hogs that are avail- 
able in the United States in case of a mobilization of 
national resources. It has been shown during the past 
two and a half years that the demand for army mount.; 
and mules for army purposes sold to the Entente Allies 
has been enormous and this has been a heavy drain 
upon our supply of available cavalry, army draft horses 
and army mules. 

With the inroads that have been made on live 
stock of this character, due to the increased use of 
automobiles and motor trucks, some constructive steps 
should be taken to increase the interest of our stock 
raisers in restoring their supplies. 

When a demand was made in the fall of 1916 for 
cavalry animals, it was found that a very poor selec- 
tion was to be had. The cavalry officers and purchas- 
ing agents of Great Britain, France and Italy had 
covered the United States completely and had selected 
the most desirable horses and mules, not only taking 
those from breeders but purchasing thousands from 
farmers and from owners in our cities. In case the De- 
partment of Agriculture should be empowered to take 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 179 

an active part in the matter of re-stocking our country 
with horses and mules, stock-breeding farms could be 
located in various sections of the country, either on 
government lands or on private property and careful 
and systematic work pursued. The same department 
should have supervision of the available automobiles 
and motor trucks of the country, so that when desired 
they could be mobilized in an orderly manner and 
distributed to the most effective purpose. 

It is believed that the proper system would be to 
divide the country into zones in which the available 
live stock and motor vehicles would be held subject to 
call according to governmental purposes of mobiliza- 
tion at points to be assigned at which the private 
owners would be required to despatch their animals 
or vehicles. They would then and there receive a pre- 
determined sum for their property. 

It is not in keeping with good military practice for 
an army to be given full rein to pillage, plunder and 
forage in an enemy country. Much less is it proper 
that at the initial move for war an army should 
begin a wholesale commandeering of private property 
in their own country. This, however, is what is recom- 
mended in the ill-considered suggestions in many news- 
papers and from Pacifists who claim that the country 
can be aroused into full military strength in a day. 
These advocates of non-preparedness declare that mil-- 
lions of men and hundreds of thousands of horses and 
automobiles could be gathered instantly for military 
purposes. Such action would destroy the confidence of 
the people in their own government and would invite 
disaster and revolution. 

The orderly method is to have a careful, proper 



180 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

census of our resources and by pre-arrangement have 
each citizen who is in possession of animals or prop- 
erty needed by the Government assigned by definite 
order to deliver the same at a prescribed place. 

It was this method that was pursued by Germany 
and France in the rapid mobilization of their resources 
in 1914. It was lack of such forethought that delayed 
Great Britain's taking an active part on land during the 
first year of the war after sacrificing, with wonderful 
valor, the small regular army that she sent into France 
on the first move to defend Paris. 

An effort should be made by the Government to 
increase the number of horses and mules in this coun- 
try. This will prove generally beneficial and will be 
most serviceable to our farmers. It is they who will 
have to use horsepower for a great part of the work 
they perform and any improvement in the quality of the 
stock and the number of available animals is their best 
assurance that fair prices will prevail and that they 
will not find the country running short of live stock 
of this character after the war. 

Proper hospitals for the care of horses and mules 
should be provided for and the number of veterinarians 
should be increased and wherever possible veterinary 
surgeons should be enrolled in the State or Federal 
service with a commissioned title and subject to orders 
to join the active service on instant demand. 

It has been related by all who have visited the 
battle-fronts of Europe that exceptional care is given 
by the Blue Cross to the army mounts and draft ani- 
mals. In place of having every wounded horse left to 
die on the battlefield or along the line of march, as has 
been the custom in past wars, it is now recorded that 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 181 

fully seventy per cent, of the injured animals are re- 
stored to the service. Almost as remarkable an ad- 
vance has been made in the skill of the veterinary de- 
partment as in the hospital service and the same im- 
proved records have resulted. Any breeder or owner 
of horses or mules and any man qualified as a veterin- 
ary can do a high service for his country by assisting 
in the mobilization through a bureau in the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture of our national live stock re- 
sources. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

AUGMENTED INSTRUCTION OF OFFICERS 
AND NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

It is a truism that every government is a reflection 
of the will of its people. When necessity impels a 
nation to change its form of government or to acceler- 
ate the activities of its governing classes, the mani- 
festation first develops from the spontaneous action 
of the common people. In the United States, where 
every citizen is a sovereign and feels that the Federal 
government is his as a heritage, the impulse of patri- 
otism is always strong. We find throughout the coun- 
try today that citizens in all stations of life are hasten- 
ing to acquaint themselves with the rudiments of mili- 
tary training and that they are drilling and studying 
the manual of arms for both the army and navy. Our 
militia has proven its stamina in responding to the 
call, as it did for the Mexican border and the forma- 
tion of schools of military instructions such as that 
conducted at Plattsburgh and elsewhere shows the 
thought is uppermost in the minds of loyal Americans 
that the time is ripe for this country to adopt universal 
military training. 

The first great deficiency in our system of having 
a small army and a limited militia is that it has not 
given us an adequate reserve of trained ofiticers. When 
it is appreciated that an army of a million men requires 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 183 

50,000 line officers and at least 20,000 trained oft"icers 
on detached service and at various army headquarters 
and supply depots, it will be seen that with less than 
15,000 available trained commissioned officers in the 
army and militia it would be impossible for the United 
States to mobilize millions of men and provide them 
with efficient officers at instant command. 

Great Britain had so small a reserve of trained 
army officers that for the first year and a half when 
several million men were being trained throughout the 
British Isles Lord Kitchener would not consent to 
sending raw recruits with untried officers into action. 
Under intensive drill and study the British army of 
5,000,000 has finally been brought to efficiency and is 
now showing its quality on the battle line. 

American valor and American willingness cannot 
accomplish the impossible. It, therefore, becomes im- 
perative that we should have an augmented system of 
instruction for commissioned and non-commissioned 
officers. This should not aim at educating only 
a few hundred or few thousand men in a highly tech- 
nical manner, but the adoption of a systematic enroll- 
ment of men who qualify in rudimentary branches of 
schooling and who show an adaptability in acquiring 
general military skill. Such schools should be located 
in all of our leading cities and should be under the 
supervision of army officers, either those on the retired 
list or those who are available through assignment at 
given tasks, where they could perform other necessary 
duties, as well as giving instruction. 

During the European war the matter of caste has 
been entirely obliterated and the sharp line which sep- 
arated the enlisted man from the commissioned officer 



184 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

no longer acts as a barrier to promotions from the 
ranks. It is estimated that fully seventy per cent, of 
the commissioned officers now in control of the armies 
of all belligerents have w^on their promotion in action 
since the war began. 

In the United States there has always been a feel- 
ing of good comradeship between the officers and en- 
listed men in our militia and the election of officers 
has always been in the control of the men. It is only 
in the regular army that the line between officers and 
men has been tightly drawn. Now that it is known 
we will need officers to the extent of many thousands 
and that the West Point Academy cannot provide 
them, either through past graduates or those now tak- 
ing their military course, it is clear that the best men 
in the country who are of military age and who show 
a disposition to qualify should be given instruction. 

One of the needs, which it is essential should be 
studied by all United States regular army officers and 
those representing our militia and volunteers, is the 
grand manoeuvering tactics that are embraced in the 
movement of army corps and great field armies. There 
are very few men in the United States army who have 
ever participated in military manoeuvers where 50,000 
men have been engaged. Unfortunately the small size 
of our regular army and the necessity for scattering it 
throughout the United States and our other posses- 
sions has limited the actual manoeuvers undertaken by 
our officers in war practice to a few thousand men. 
Just as a lawyer who has never practiced in a court of 
appeals or the Supreme Court is at a disadvantage in 
arguing his first case, so any army officer who is sud- 
denly required to apply his book and theoretical knowl- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 185 

edge in grand manoeuvers is hampered by lack of 
previous actual experience. There could be no better 
method of instructing the regular army officers and 
all those acquiring military training, than by having 
the annual war manoeuvers of this country conducted 
on a large scale such as was the practice in European 
countries as a regular part of their training. This gave 
them the efficiency to mobilize rapidly in 1914. Delay 
of even a day in the defensive plans of France or the 
mobilization of the Russian armies might have proven 
disastrous and have given Germany the advantage of 
surprise which her generals expected would follow 
from their sudden attacks. 

In our navy the same necessity exists for the train- 
ing of officers of all grades for our high sea fleet; for 
our harbor defenses ; our supply depots and for service 
in our distant possessions. Untrained and untried 
naval officers represent a greater risk than men of lim- 
ited training in the army. The mis-manoeuvering of a 
battleship or a battle-fleet in action or the ineffectual 
protection of a harbor might bring immediate and 
crushing defeat to the nation. Errors committed on 
land can always be more easily remedied than those 
committed on the sea. 

It, therefore, becomes imperative that the nation 
does not place too strong a reliance upon the protection 
which can be secured through the activity of a volun- 
teer mosquito fleet. While every man freely offering 
his service and tendering as a gift his motor boat or 
yacht may be willing to die gloriously for his country, 
it would not serve a military purpose to have untrained 
men thus sacrificed. We need many thousands of men 
trained as officers and petty officers for the navy and 



186 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

the naval reserve, and these should be given a chance 
to participate in high sea manoeuvers and in the de- 
fense of our coasts against enemy attack. It is riot 
enough that the volunteers who live in States border- 
ing on the deep seas should alone be drawn upon. From 
every State a pro rata proportion of those who are 
brought into the service of the United States, or who 
wish to volunteer, should be delegated to the emei'- 
gency naval training schools and qualify as rapidly as 
possible for the duties of officers. Every man who can 
be brought to a point of moderate proficiency and who 
can perform a duty of a minor character will liberate 
for the high sea fleet navy officers who have complete 
training through their course at Annapolis and their 
service in the navy. 

It must be recalled that it takes four years to train 
an officer from the grade of cadet to lieutenant in the 
regular course of instruction in the Annapolis Naval 
Academy. In times of peace four years can be used to 
this end, but under the emergency of war months, 
and not years, are given a nation in which to defend 
itself. 

Let the augmented schools for the instruction of 
officers and non-commissioned officers be one of the 
first undertakings in our plan for national prepared- 
ness. Nothing can be of greater importance than to 
have men qualified to lead others into action either on 
land or on sea. Every State armory, and, if need be, 
every available public building, should be devoted to 
the uses of military schools of instruction at night un- 
der proper supervision. The details for such organiza- 
tion for the army should be delegated to the Governors 
of States, and through them to their adjutant-generals. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 187 

This is the direct and proper military course to follow. 
As the States do not have naval vessels at their dis- 
posal the naval officers' instruction schools should be 
held in our navy yards and at such other points as the 
commandants of naval stations may designate. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

SIGNAL CORPS SERVICE. 

• There is no way in which an effective signal corps 
service can be improvised or its intricacies mastered 
by volunteers in a day. Great military movements 
must be made in an orderly manner and upon definite 
information which is acquired by a skilled signal corps 
back of the advance line of the army and operating in 
the enemy territory. This requires the co-ordination 
of the telephone, telegraph, wireless and all other 
methods of intercommunication. The present method 
of making war requires signaling at night by rockets, 
searchlight beams and by flashlight signalling. All 
of these methods are modern and are not thoroughly 
understood by our regular army nor the militia. They 
are an absolutely closed book so far as our volunteers 
would be concerned. 

The practical method to pursue should be to co- 
ordinate the Western Union, Postal Telegraph, the Bell 
Telephone systems, and all minor telegraph and tele- 
phone organizations, the wireless companies and cable 
companies, so that these could work in unison with 
the regular army signal corps and the military organ- 
izations in the various States. 

In place of having a theoretical explanation of 
how military orders can be transmitted, practical try- 
outs should be instituted at once so that the several 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 189 

army headquarters, naval stations and all State mili- 
tary headquarters could be put through a practice 
drill in receiving and distributing general orders. This 
would correspond to the fire drills that are conducted 
in our schools and that, in short order, clear a four- 
story building with several thousand children so that 
there is no panic, stampede or injury to even the small- 
est boys and girls. When such an example is before us 
it is certainly reasonable to demand that men engaged 
in the defense of the nation should practice a drill in 
issuing a hurry call, so that there would be no delay 
or confusion. 

In the fire departments of our cities and in our 
police departments the same fundamentally sound 
practice obtains as in our schools. Emergency calls 
are issued and the fire department and police go 
through the actual assembling to test their efficiency. 

Now that we are assembling the armed strength of 
the nation it seems that co-operation with the authori- 
ties in Washington should embrace the unification of 
our signal corps. We have our continental territory 
to consider and methods of communication between 
the United States and its distant possessions. In place 
of being dependent upon foreign cables we must con- 
struct our own high transmission wireless stations so 
that communication between the coast of California 
and Hawaii, and thence to the Philippines, will be in 
our own control. Our communication with Alaska 
should also be thoroughly independent of any foreign 
agencies. 

One of the developments of the present war has 
been the introduction of signals from aeroplanes, and 
these are transmitted by wireless telephone, wireless 



190 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

messages and by direct physical signals by means of 
wigwags. Our aviation signal corps service is still in 
its infancy and none of the State organizations have 
any practical experience in transmitting intelligence 
from the air covering a wide area of territory, ex- 
tending over an enemy's line. 

It is in connection with the signal corps that the 
special value of the new army unit, as suggested in 
this book, is to be found. Basing the number of men 
in an army unit at 5,000, representing all branches of 
service and working together in practice, our volun- 
teer and militia armies would become proficient in the 
necessary details for field operation. When called to 
mobilize a unit would be thoroughly drilled and syn- 
chronized in all of its equipment and for performing 
all functions. Such a regimental unit would work 
like a ship's crew. This is the method of military 
organizations as forced upon the world by the advance 
of science and by the intensive methods of modern 
warfare. 

The present system of unrelated units which 
brings into the field infantry regiments, cavalry troops, 
signal corps, light artillery batteries, heavy field bat- 
teries, medical corps, signal corps, ordnance corps and 
aviation corps, all operating disjunctively and never 
having operated in a wide field in open order, no proper 
team work can be accomplished. Cavalry cannot be 
moved unless the field it is to cover is shown to 
be free from enemy traps and this must be ascertained 
by an alert aviation scout service. Artillery cannot be 
advantageously placed unless the same intelligence is 
available. Infantry cannot be manoeuvered without 
excessive risk unless the enemy force is located and 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 191 

its strength and direction ascertained. With our small 
regular army, small quota of militiamen and no ade- 
quate trained reserve, we must make up in efficiency 
what we lack in numbers. 

War is largely a matter of science as applied by 
dauntless men ; but the bravest men must have the 
means for defense and offense. 

Our signal corps must be so co-ordinated that 
they can work from the regimental unit in actual prac- 
tice, where they serve as the eyes of 5,000 men. to 
where they join a brigade of three regimental units 
comprising 15,000 men, or a division of three brigades 
representing- 45.000 men. or get in union with the 
signal corps of a full army corps representing three 
divisions, a total of some 135,000 men. 

These are conditions that our regular a'rmy has 
never attained since the days of the Civil War, and 
then none of the modern devices for communication 
were available. It is practice and not theory that 
makes an effective signal corps. 

As the eyes of all armies in Europe are now re- 
corded as being primarily represented by aviation 
corps, instruction in this branch in our signal service 
should include a liberal practice in planes, dirigible 
airships and observation balloons. 

There are certainly a hundred thousand men in 
the United States who are thoroughly versed in tele- 
graph, the telephone service and competent to become 
experts in wireless, and these should be mobilized 
without delay for our signal service, because this num- 
ber is needed if we are to mobilize field armies of a 
million or more men, and are to properly patrol our 
sea coasts and land borders. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

SAPPERS AND MINERS IN MODERN WAR. 

It has been proven on all of the battle-fronts in 
the present world war that engineering skill is as 
great an asset to an army as man strength. It is upon 
the ingenuity and scientific skill of the engineering 
corps of the armies that modern trenches and fortifica- 
tions are constructed and that offensive and counter- 
offensive attacks are developed in the matter of ex- 
ploding mines and dynamiting enemy strongholds and 
lines of communication. Modern war has intensified 
the value of sappers and miners who in previous wars 
had generally played an inconspicuous part. When 
the movement of armies on the west front in France 
and Belgium was checked and trench warfare became 
the rule, the engineers for the Allies, as well as the 
Teutonic armies, resorted to every device for strength- 
ening their trench lines and strongholds. Literally 
thousands of miles of concrete trenches have been 
built and subterranean forts have been constructed 
along lines never conceived of before in warfare. 

In many desolated villages in France and Belgium 
the Germans constructed deep caves and galleries com- 
municating from house to house and from one town 
to another, through cellars and communicating tun- 
nels, for the movement of their men, ammunition and 
supplies. It was found that the armies were to be 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 193 

deadlocked for months, and, as it has developed, for 
more than two years. In some instances, once in- 
trenched they remained in fixed positions, not moving 
more than a few yards as a result of furious charges 
and along many miles of front holding unchanged 
position since September, 1914, following the battle of 
the Marne. It can be seen that under these conditions 
the skill of the sappers and miners in digging tunnels 
under the enemy trenches, and in placing explosive 
mines, has been an indispensable feature of the present 
war. 

In our own experience in wars we have never had 
to resort to methods that are to be compared with 
those now in use in Europe. In front of Petersburg, 
in the Civil War, Grant's army succeeded in exploding 
many mines, but black powder was used and the ef- 
fectiveness was not great. The one startling result 
of the long months of labor devoted in that direction 
was in the setting of a series of mines which created 
what is known as the "Great Crater," in which many 
hundreds of men were killed. 

Such craters are common along the battle-fronts 
of Europe. In fact, back of every mile of trench the 
ground for a distance of several miles is literally pock- 
marked with such holes which have been created by 
the explosion of great quantities of dynamite and other 
explosives or have been the result of the discharge 
of high explosive shells from heavy artillery. 

In our own preparation for war, it is possible for 
the regular army, the militia, and the volunteer forces 
to secure the services of men especially trained for 
work as sappers and miners. These men represent 
workers who have built railroads, subways and tunnels. 



194 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

By drawing from the building trades in our large cities 
we could get men who are familiar with constructing 
foundations for modern buildings. These ''ground 
hogs," as they are called, who delve hundreds of feet 
below the street levels in order to establish rock 
bottom foundations for skyscrapers, are also familiar 
with all the details of tunneling. It will be found that 
many thousands of hardy workers can be mobilized for 
army sappers and miners. 

American underground engineering work is rec- 
ognized as the most extensive in the world, and, in 
many instances, the most spectacular feats have been 
accomplished. Our railroad tunnels through the moun- 
tain ranges on the Atlantic coast and in the Rocky 
Mountains are works of exceptional skill, and in our 
cities, such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia, 
great subway systems have been constructed. In New 
York, particularly, the Hudson River and East River 
have been tunneled by numerous tubes and the work 
of building proper towers for numerous suspension 
bridges has required the skill of the best engineers and 
actual work by most proficient operatives. 

The sappers and miners' division in our army 
must be thoroughly drilled and put through the prac- 
tice of constructing modern trenches and communicat- 
ing trenches as well as practiced in building tunnels 
for the destruction of enemy posts. This is essential 
from the fact that as modern armies "dig themselves 
in" to positions, they must be blasted or mined out. 

The use of high explosive projectiles is much more 
expensive and less effective than the proper placing 
of bombs or mines by means of tunnels. The work is 
dangerous and requires skill and special training. At 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 195 

Verdun and Gallipoli, as well as in China when the 
Japanese captured the German station, the work of 
sappers and miners became most important. 

We have an opportunity in this country to im- 
mediately enroll a sufficient number of men familiar 
with underground work to form schools of instruction 
in New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, 
Pittsburgh and San Francisco. Men designated to join 
the sappers and miners' divisions could be assembled 
in these centers and receive instruction from civil en- 
gineers and practical superintendents, foremen and 
operatives who are familiar with tunneling, shoring, 
sheathing and caisson work. This is a matter which 
should be given early attention by those endeavoring 
to mobilize our national resources. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

HARBOR DEFENSE CORPS. 

What has always been termed one of the greatest 
advantages of the United States is the number and 
excellence of its harbors. Beginning from New Eng- 
land our Atlantic coast is marked by many excellent 
deep water harbors, and with Boston, New York, the 
Delaware, the Chesapeake, Charleston, Savannah, Wil- 
mington and Jacksonville, we have available harbors 
and great bays that are suitable for the accommoda- 
tion and protection of our mercantile marine and our 
naval vessels. Besides these major harbors and sev- 
eral watersheds there are many other available ports. 
On the Pacific we have the ports of San Francisco, 
Seattle and San Diego and others, including our 
harbors in Alaska. The proper defense for our coast 
and our deep sea harbors is not in a flimsy flotilla of 
submarine chasers that are little more than pleasure 
motor boats, converted into emergency navy auxil- 
iaries. The services of volunteers in the harbor de- 
fense and naval reserve are desirable, but cannot be 
depended upon too strongly, and any work that the 
police of our coast cities performs can only be of a 
desultory character, 

A well-defined system of coast defense requires 
the proper co-ordination between the army coast de- 
fense service, the field army forces of the Army De- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 197 

partment, in which the city is located, and the navy. 
The fixed positions of coast defense artillery must be 
defended against land attack. This requires large 
mobile military forces. Harbor defense must include 
the closing of channels, the laying of mines and the 
presence in a harbor of a sufficient number of naval 
vessels of the proper type to ward off an attack by an 
enemy fleet. 

That we have not developed our plans for harbor 
defense to an advanced stage only accentuates the need 
of all citizens giving the matter immediate considera- 
tion. Police precinct stations in all of our coast cities 
should be made places attractive to the young men 
who are desirous of forming a harbor defense corps, 
and these station houses could be used for schools of 
instruction in the proper method of drill and for points 
of mobilization in case of emergency. Those who as- 
sociate themselves in any branch of duty for the de- 
fense of the country and carry out the spirit of the 
American Minute Men should receive proper direction. 
In the matter of harbor defense more confusion than 
assistance will result if indiscriminate and unregulated 
movements are permitted to harbor craft. 

By previous drill and instruction citizens, who 
have declared their intention to co-operate with the 
harbor defense forces, should be made familiar with 
the proper moves to make in the event of a call to 
action. The provisions of proclamations to be issued 
by mayors of cities, and, through them, by the police 
department, should be familiar to trained citizens 
through advanced instruction. The protective step 
of closing all saloons, cafes and liquor stores immedi- 
ately upon the announcement of a call for the protec- 



198 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

tion of a city should be provided for, and, under State 
enactment, a heavy penalty with forfeiture of license 
should be the result of a violation of this rule. Such 
a regulation would prevent trouble through intoxica- 
tion when a city was in peril. 

The forces brought together as volunteer adjuncts 
for harbor defense should be allotted definite duties 
and assigned to the army, naval reserve, U. S. Navy 
and to the civic authorities under the police depart- 
ment. By such an arrangement confusion would be 
avoided and thousands of youths and men of middle 
age who were anxious to do their share in protecting 
their homes and country would be given an oppor- 
tunity to act effectively instead of working at random 
and intensifying the confusion in a city under such 
circumstances as a blockade or bombardment. That 
it has been more than a hundred years since any of 
our seacoast cities have been under the fire of an 
enemy's guns is the great underlying cause of our 
unpreparedness. We have felt too secure in our isola- 
tion and too confident in our supreme ability to ward 
off attack from any enemy. We have sought to live 
at peace with the world and have adopted the belief 
that the United States would never again be brought 
into armed conflict. We are having our awakening 
and must speed our preparedness for defense and our 
equipment for- offense. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

SYNCHRONIZING MANOEUVERS OF REGU- 
LAR ARMY, MILITIA AND VOLUNTEER 
FORCES. 

When stripped of all technical definitions and ex- 
pressed in simplest terms, war is the business of fight- 
ing an enemy. To win victories one side must strike 
harder blows than the other. For the armed forces 
of the United States in time of actual war to accom- 
plish results there must be a complete synchronizing of 
the movements of our regular army, the militia and 
the volunteer forces. As an example, the situation in 
New York may be described as follows : We have in 
this zone army headquarters on Governor's Island, in 
the Upper Bay ; there are forts surrounding New York 
City, including Fort Wadsworth and Fort Hamilton 
guarding the entrance to the Narrows, joining the 
Lower Bay and Upper Bay; Fort Hancock at Sandy 
Hook; Fort Totten and Fort Schuyler on the Sound. 
We have the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a military sta- 
tion, and in the City of New York there are the 
armories of the several State militia regiments, cavalry 
troops, artillery batteries and engineering corps. 

These constitute our regularly appointed and spe- 
cial State forces. The assembling of forces for volun- 
teer auxiliaries must be handled through the regular 
Army Department or the State militia, as may be de- 



200 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

termined by the Federal government. If the work is 
delegated to the State militia, it would save confusion 
and overcrowding in the regular armories to have the 
police precinct station houses made recruiting head- 
quarters for given sections of the city. Under emer- 
gency the men could be quartered in the station houses 
or in public buildings, and throughout the State the 
county seats and the cities could be made rendezvous 
for recruits coming from the rural districts. 

It is essential that upon calling men to arms they 
should be placed under military control at the earliest 
opportunity So as to begin their training under com- 
petent officers. This immediately tends to bring the 
realization of duty strongly upon the recruit and is 
better than the system of enrolling men and having 
them living at home or be billeted away from their 
organization. 

In the defense of New York the first efforts should 
be made to have the information sent by telephone or 
telegraph. In the New York district the grand head- 
quarters should be located in the Western Union and 
Postal buildings, where immediate access would be 
given to the full telegraph service and where easy con- 
junction could be had with the telephone service. The 
telephone headquarters are located in the building im- 
mediately opposite the Western Union. These two 
means of communication together with the Postal 
Telegraph service would insure immediate distribution 
of war orders throughout the city and outlying terri- 
tory. The call for the regular army, militia and volun- 
teers to take the field to protect New York would in- 
volve placing supreme command in the hands of the 
ranking United States army officer, who would be com- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 201 

mander of the division of the East with headquarters at 
Governor's Island, New York. Under his control 
would come the regular army officers, members of the 
militia and the volunteers. The disposition of troops 
would be determined by the direction from which at- 
tack was expected, but would embrace throwing out 
armed forces around New York, in Westchester Coun- 
ty, Long Island, Staten Island, Manhattan, and, 
through co-operation with New Jersey, along the Jer- 
sey shore line. 

Supplementing this distribution of land forces 
would be the allotment of work for the naval forces 
at this station and the auxiliary naval reserve. Com- 
mand of the naval forces would be under control of the 
ranking naval officer of the North Atlantic Squadron. 
Under his supreme direction the work assigned to the 
Naval Reserve, and the Harbor Defense Corps, the 
Coast Defense, the Signal Corps and the volunteer 
mosquito fleet guard would be performed. The com- 
manding army officers, militia officers, volunteer offi- 
cers and the Governors of the States of New York, 
New Jersey and Connecticut, acting ex-officio, should 
constitute the board of strategy for defense of the 
New York zone. All orders should emanate from the 
War Council Headquarters in the Postal and Western 
Union buildings, and by having a completely synchron- 
ized board the errors of omission and commission and 
the disasters which attended such movements as at 
Gallipoli would be avoided. 

The work of defense of New York and other coast 
cities is dual and calls for the activity of both land 
and naval forces that to be eflfective must be perfectly 
harmonized. Running parallel with and quite as im- 



202 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

portant as making effective progress against the enemy 
must be the maintenance of order in the territory 
defended. 

With New York, comprising a cosmopolitan popu- 
lation of over 5,000,000, the strictest police regulation 
would have to prevail in order to avoid rioting, pillage 
and other acts of violence. The American Minute 
Men who would co-operate as a civil guard when not 
attached to any active branches of the service could 
be depended upon as guardians of the peace to pro- 
tect public buildings, public highways, public works 
and for the care and protection of the citizens in con- 
junction with the regular constituted police. By 
previous enrollment and the possession of warrants to 
bear arms and to act as deputies these men would be 
immediately available upon call and would be trained 
to the duties for which they were needed. Such a 
body assisting the armed forces would put an end to 
food riots, the raiding of supply centers and to acts 
of general disorder. 

A certain percentage of all those volunteering to 
act in the civil guard should be delegated to augment 
the regular fire department force as an attack upon a 
great city would probably lead to many incendiar}'- 
fires and to others caused by direct gun fire or acci- 
dental causes. An efficient fire service at such a time 
would be of inestimable value and fire houses through- 
out the city and outlying territory could be converted 
into temporary barracks for the volunteer fire contin- 
gent. It is by working out definite plans along these 
lines that American coast cities can protect themselves 
from confusion, disasters and possible destruction. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ATLANTIC COAST DEFENSE. 

In a war which is being brought by a European 
power against the United States it is necessary for 
the aggressor to attack by sea, and the natural course 
would be to operate on the Atlantic coast. From 
Maine to Florida our coast line, with its estuaries, of 
nearly 3,000 miles would have to be patrolled by high 
sea vessels competent to operate several hundred miles 
off shore and be capable of remaining at sea for weeks, 
or even months, without making a home station. Mod- 
ern warfare has introduced the airplane as the eyes for 
the navy, as well as the army, and our ships in acting 
as a coast defense should be equipped with airplanes 
and with proper launching platforms. 

The faith that is being expressed in the power of 
small boats as a means of defense is more likely to 
prove a danger than a means of ultimate protection. 
The boat of less than a hundred feet in length and 
with a low free board cannot have the range of visibil- 
ity which is required for operation on the high sea. 
Believing that the submarine is our greatest danger 
from the sea, and assuming that England's control of 
the submarine or its power to minimize the destructive- 
ness of the campaign of frightfulness, is due to the effi- 
ciency of submarine chasers, we are providing fleets of 
small craft. While it is true that these small motor 



204 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

craft have done good work in harbors, and while hug- 
ging the shore in fair to middling rough water they 
are impotent to act as a guard in stormy weather and 
under high sea conditions. The British navy regard 
these boats as auxiliary and not prime defensive arms. 

Boats of a hundred feet or more would prove more 
capable, but even such vessels are not the ideal type. 
Armed ships with a displacement of 5,000 to 10,000 
tons and with a high freeboard giving wider range of 
visibility and effective range for gun fire will be found, 
according to expert naval advice, to represent the 
safest off-shore coast defense craft against submarines. 
This is the opinion of naval men in all of the belliger- 
ent nations that have combated the Von Tirpitz sea 
piracy, and the United States should not run counter 
to their judgments. The many estuaries, firths, bays ■ 
and channels that are found in the British Isles consti- 
tute a different problem, than we have to meet in oui 
Atlantic coast defense. We have comparatively fev/ 
harbors and coast cities to protect. 

Aside from the special craft for combating sub- 
marines our Atlantic naval coast defense must include 
a patrol of scout cruisers, battle-cruisers and battle- 
ships. This is an obligatory requirement inasmuch as 
the results of the battles in the North Sea since the 
first conflict between Admiral Jellicoe's high sea fleet 
and the German navy have proven that control of the 
sea must be held by a superior force attacking and 
destroying or chasing the enemy on sight. 

If an enemy fleet were to approach our Atlantic 
seaboard on the New England coast, the Middic At- 
lantic or the South Atlantic, they should be detected 
by air scouts and scout-cruisers, immediately engaged 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 205 

by armed cruisers and battle-cruisers, and kept em- 
ployed until the major units of the coast patrol came 
up. This would be following exactly the same line of 
action that was witnessed in the Jutland battle when 
Admiral Beatty, with a reconnoitering fleet, engaged 
the German high sea fleet and successfully combated 
them until the grand fleet of Admiral Jellicoe arrived 
to clear the North Sea of the German raiders. 

We are fortunate in having Boston harbor, New 
York harbor, Chesapeake Bay, Charleston, S. C, and 
Porto Rico as main stations for the Atlantic squad- 
rons. On signals received from the high sea fleet and 
the coast patrol the necessary mobilization of land 
forces at the threatened point could be accomplished. 
This requires the installation and operation of effective 
wireless apparatus along our coasts and the intelli- 
gence bureau in the signal corps made competent to 
work in unison with the army and navy. 

In the event of formidable attack on any point 
along the Atlantic coast it would be necessary for the 
nation to concentrate a strong force of land reserves 
so as to avoid invasion. Detailed plans for the mobil- 
ization of forces at the principal coast points v/ill be 
given in succeeding chapters and the outline of the 
duties of the several States and the army and navy 
working in unison will be explained. 

The paramount consideration in any war is to be 
prepared when occasion warrants for assuming the 
offensive. This has always been the rule that military 
instructors have laid down, and it applies to the United 
States as well as to any other nation. The force of 
this situation is shown in the land operations in 
progress on the west front in France and Belgium 



206 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

since January, 1917. From being on the defensive and 
seeking to keep the German armies from making fur- 
ther incursions into France for the purpose of captiir- 
ing Paris, the Entente Allies are assuming the offensive 
and are rolling back the German invaders. So on the 
North Sea and in the Mediterranean w^hile the Allies 
have been fighting a defensive war they are ready at 
any opportunity, w^hen they can find the enemy, to 
conduct an aggressive assault. Applied to the United 
States, it imposes upon our navy the duty to be ready 
to defend our coasts, or at the first opportunity to 
strike the enemy with the object of annihilating their 
sea strength. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

GULF OF MEXICO DEFENSE. 

In planning for the adequate defense of the Mis- 
sissippi River and the territory bordering the Gulf of 
Mexico, the United States has to consider more than 
the narrow question of our own coast line. The pe- 
culiar geographical land formation of the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, which completes three-quarters of a circle and is 
closed on the remaining quarter by the Island of Cuba, 
so that access to this great gulf is possible only 
through the narrow Florida Strait and the Yucatan 
channel, a neck of the Caribbean Sea, makes it easy 
to defend and susceptible of modern protection in 
ways not available to any other great ocean body on 
the Western Hemisphere. In some respects the Gulf 
of Mexico is not unlike the Mediterranean Sea and 
the two controlling points of the Mediterranean, the 
Straits of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, may be broadly 
compared to the Florida Strait and the channel or 
straits leading from the Gulf of Mexico into the Carib- 
bean Sea. 

Our broadest military interest in the Gulf of Mex- 
ico is that it forms the natural channel through which 
our supplies of foods, oils and munitions would pass 
to reach the Panama Canal and thus be available for 
distribution on our Pacific coast and to our Asiatic 
possessions. 

The United States has become sponsor for Cuba, 



208 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

and, under our still broader declaration of protection 
to all Pan-American nations embodied in the Monroe 
doctrine, the United States must be capable to occupy, 
not a defensive, but a strongly offensive position, in 
the Gulf of Mexico and its tributary waters. 

The Mississippi watershed represents the heart of 
our nation, and as the Gulf of Mexico is the deep sea 
route for vessels entering or departing from the Mis- 
sissippi Basin, its freedom from hostile craft must be 
maintained. In the plan for the defense of the Gulf 
of Mexico, our naval stations at Key West, Pensacola 
and our harbors at Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston 
and our naval stations at Guantanamo, Cuba, form a 
chain of bases for army and navy. The mobilization 
of field armies drawn from North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma would be 
the natural move in case of a threatened attack. Our 
land batteries in harbors and at naval stations should 
be brought up to a higher degree of proficiency by the 
installment of larger calibre guns and the construction 
of special railroads for the movement of portable 
artillery. Our coast artillery force should be recruited 
to the maximum. 

Supplementing these agencies of defense should 
be the mobilization of all river and sea-going craft in 
the Gulf of Mexico area and the protection of harbors 
and river mouths by mines and other modern protec- 
tive devices. 

The strategic position of a fleet in the Gulf of 
Mexico arises from the fact that it can be readily dis- 
patched to the Atlantic seaboard or to the Caribbean; 
through the Panama Canal to operate on the west 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 209 

coast of South America or the west coast of 
North America ; for dispatch to the far Pacific, or to be 
held to operate in any portion of the Gulf of Mexico 
or the West Indies. 

One of the greatest necessities in the matter of 
national preparedness is that our naval bases be 
brought up to a high point of efficiency and that in 
the matter of dry-docks and repair shops nothing be 
left undone to make them available for handling our 
major vessels as well as the lesser units of the naval 
establishment. 

It can never be overlooked that the ultimate re- 
serves of the United States in men, in food and in 
materials necessary for war must be drawn from the 
great area that is comprised in what is broadly termed 
the Mississippi Basin. This country could stand a 
blockade of both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and 
survive better than it could to have the Mississippi 
Valley pass into control of an enemy. 

We have had' the startling war plan of Germany 
outlined by which a coalition with Mexico and Japan 
was to be accomplished through the invasion of the 
United States across Mexican territory with the pur- 
pose of dismembering the Union. This was to be ac- 
complished, in the bland German view, by offering to 
return the State of Texas, which, in itself, is so ex- 
tensive that the German Empire could be set in it ; and, 
besides the return of New Mexico, Arizona and por- 
tions of California that were ceded by Mexico at the 
end of the Mexican war, the German war plan com- 
prehended marching transversely across the Missis- 
sippi Basin, with Chicago as the ultimate goal. This 
would have divided the Continent, cut communication 



210 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

with every transcontinental railroad and would have 
effectively prevented the mobilization of our national 
resources. 

That such an audacious plan can be seriously con- 
ceived and proposed to a great nation such as Japan 
and to Mexico shows that our belief in perpetual 
peace hung on a thin thread. No move that can be 
made to strengthen our control of the Gulf of Mexico 
should be neglected, and every one in this nation, 
whether resident in Portland, Oregon, or Portland, 
Maine, Duluth or San Francisco, Jacksonville, or Den- 
ver, is as vitally affected and should be as keenly ap- 
preciative of protective measures as the citizens who 
live along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

MEXICAN BORDER DEFENSE. 

From the experience which the United States 
army has gained since an expeditionary force was 
sent into Mexico in pursuit of the bandit Villa the 
country has had an opportunity to form some idea of 
the magnitude of modern military operations. Although 
less than a hundred thousand men were mobilized on 
the Texas side of the Rio Grande River and a small 
force of regulars was sent into the State of Chihuahua, 
Mexico, under command of Col. Pershing, the military 
supplies of the army were found inadequate, and in 
commissary and aviation departments in particular 
there was a breakdown that prevented successful oper- 
ations in the enemy country. The peculiarities of 
climate along the Mexican border, from Brownsville, 
Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico, to San Diego, Cal., on 
the Pacific coast, and covering a line of more than 
1,800 miles are such that a field army must be pro- 
vided with equipment that would not be necessary for 
operating in a temperate zone. 

The difficulties in operating along the Rio Grande 
are comparable to those which the British army en- 
countered in their advance up the Tigris River in Asia 
Minor. Vast areas of land adjacent to the Mexican 
border in Arizona and New Mexico are little more 
than deserts and the very greatest difficulty is ex- 



212 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

perienced in getting water and in accomplishing trans- 
portation. For the past three-quarters of a century 
the Mexican border has not been regarded as a menace 
to the United States as the activities of our army in 
that quarter have been confined to checking border 
cattle raids and occasional bandit raids w^hen a revolu- 
tion in Mexico was in progress. 

As if in a day this has been changed by the poten- 
tial danger that is suggested in Mexico through the 
German intrigue which sought to array the Republic 
of Mexico against the United States. 

We now realize that the entire length of the 
Mexican border, following the course of the Rio 
Grande, from Brownsville through El Paso, Texas, 
must be guarded against the possibility of an invasion 
not only of armed Mexicans but of any other power 
that might act in unison with Mexico, or having al- 
ready acquired control of Mexico, pass on into United 
States territory. 

The rich mining deposits in New Mexico and 
Arizona and the railroad system which connects Den- 
ver, Trinidad, Albuquerque, El Paso, Tucson, Yuma, 
Los Angeles and San Diego are of such importance 
that their protection must be guaranteed by adequate 
military forces. The greatest protection for the Mexi- 
can border patrol would be an adequate fleet of air- 
ships for scouting and a sufficient force of cavalry and 
motor vehicles. The geographical character of the 
Mexican border line places the United States open 
to a serious flank attack unless the Rio Grande and 
the northern border of Mexico touching on Arizona 
and New Mexico are properly protected. The meagre 
population of New Mexico and Arizona, as compared 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 213 

to their territorial extent, makes it imperative that a 
mobilization plan be devised that would immediately 
concentrate on the Mexican border forces drawn from 
California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas and Texas, 
States contiguous to or near the border. Such a group 
of States contributing their proper proportion of militia 
mustered into the Federal service and volunteers could 
be depended upon to create an army of 250,000 to 300,- 
000 men to supplement the regular border patrol for 
emergency call. We are fortunate in having a net 
work of railroads, many of them connecting directly 
with transcontinental lines that would effect rapid 
mobilization. Following this concentration should 
come the regular army forces in sufficient number to 
relieve the State troops and volunteers. 

Acting in conjunction with our land forces wc 
are in a position to bring immediate and heavy naval 
pressure against Mexico from the Gulf of Mexico, from 
our stations in the Panama Canal zone and from the 
Pacific coast. The utter inadequacy of the Mexican 
navy makes it possible for the United States to freely 
use its naval forces in the Gulf of Mexico. Through an 
expedition that could proceed up the Colorado River, 
at the head of the Gulf of California, an army could be 
transported from any point on the Pacific coast, from 
Washington, Oregon or California, or from the Atlan- 
tic coast, passing through the Panama and brought 
into action in the rear of any Mexican expedition that 
attempted to cross the Arizona or New Mexico line. 

In the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea 
our naval forces would be able to exert controlling 
power upon the Mexican cities of Matamoros, Tampico, 
Vera Cruz, Campeche, Progreso. With these ports 



214 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

closed, blockaded or captured, Mexico would be pre- 
vented from access to the outer world by sea on the 
east. The Pacific fleet could close the ports of Tehuan- 
tepec and the other lesser ports on the west coast of 
Mexico. 

The plan of the United States, however, must in- 
clude the possibility of Mexico being aided by a prime 
nation. Should such a power as Japan, for example, 
co-operate with Mexico, a formidable navy would 
have to be encountered. The United States in such 
conditions would have the advantage of home bases 
as opposed to Japan with its nearest home station 
4,800 miles from our Pacific coast. 

In the event of a strong alliance of powers with 
Mexico and the necessity for the United States to 
repel a serious invasion, the full power of our army 
and navy could be exerted on three fronts — namely, 
the Gulf of Mexico, the land border and on the Pacific 
coast. This places Mexico, which is a gigantic penin- 
sula, in much the same position as Greece in the 
Mediterranean. It gives the enemy of Mexico an op- 
portunity to bring pressure by land and water along 
extensive fronts and makes the defense of Mexico ex- 
ceedingly difficult. 

A latent danger to the United States from the 
Mexican situation lies in the large number of Teutonic 
aliens who are now in Mexico and who are believed 
to be waiting an opportunity to incite a revolution. 
A large percentage of these are trained reservists, and 
if they were to be supplied with arms and ammunition 
they could be created into a sizeable armed force. It 
is, therefore, most important that no arms or ammuni^ 
tion should reach Mexico from the United States or 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 215 

through other channels at this critical juncture, 
whether intended for the provisional government or 
for private account. The danger is too great that 
every gun and bullet may eventually be turned against 
the United States. 

The surest guaranty of peace in Mexico is to dis- 
arm bandits who infest the border. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

PACIFIC COAST DEFENSE. 

In considering the matter of the defense of the 
Pacific coast a more difficult problem is presented 
than the average citizen is inclined to appreciate. In 
the first place the States of Washington, Oregon and 
California all bordering on the Pacific and the ad- 
jacent inland States of Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, 
Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico are not manufac- 
turing centers. They have in comparison to their area a 
small population and there is no immediate method of 
intensifying their productivity in matters of munitions 
or in making heavy drafts upon them for military 
strength to cope with a serious menace. 

It is necessary for the United States to have its 
defensive program on the Pacific coast include an 
adequate supply of arms, munitions and supplies for 
the commissary available on the west side of the Great 
Divide ; to provide for a serious attack from an enemy 
approaching at any point from Vancouver to Lower 
California. The Pacific coast offers very few ports, 
and for this reason the naval and military stations at 
San Francisco should be made as impregnable as Great 
Britain has made Gibraltar. Seattle in Washington 
would be available only as long as Great Britain was 
not arrayed against us, but with the British navy to 
contend with access to Puget Sound would be shut 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 217 

off and Seattle and Port Townsend would be blockaded. 
In Oregon, Astoria is the principal seaport and the 
entrance to Columbia Bay, into which the Columbia 
River flows, should be made a strong defensive point. 
At the southern extremity of California the facilities 
of San Diego Bay should be brought to their maxi- 
mum, as this would be our first port of call from the 
Panama Canal. It would also serve as the original 
base from which to direct an invasion of Mexico from 
the west. 

All of these details in connection with the Pacific 
coast defense have been worked out in theory by our 
war college and by the students of our military and 
naval academies, but the people of the United States 
whose Representatives and whose Senators must ap- 
propriate funds for carrying out such plans are, not 
familiar with the enormous work involved in adequate 
preparedness for a nation whose continental territory 
embraces three million square miles. 

Our dreams of living forever at peace with the 
world cannot now be cherished, and the safe and 
proper thing for a nation of 110,000,000 people is to 
authorize their representatives to order universal mili- 
tary service and provide full and complete means of 
defense and offense for the armed servants of the 
people. 

As an indispensable feature of Pacific coast de- 
fense must be the means for expeditionary forces to 
originate from San Francisco or San Diego. An assault 
upon our insular possessions in the far Pacific or upon 
the Panama Canal from the Pacific coast side would 
require the immediate despatch of an expeditionary 
naval force, and this, as was shown in the Spanish- 



218 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

American War when Dewey entered the Bay of 
Manila, would have to be followed by a supporting 
army. Such problems are now to be considered not 
in the light of theories, but of actualities which this 
country must be prepared to meet. 

The development of a complete and effective avi- 
ation coast patrol for the Pacific coast is as essential 
as that one of similar character should be organized 
for the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. 

The results of the world war cannot be foretold 
and at the present time the weakest front which the 
United States presents to the world is its Pacific coast. 
Anything that will strengthen this it should be the 
duty of Congress, speaking for the nation, to have 
done. It is fortunate that in the distribution of natural 
reserves California possesses limitless supplies of 
oil to furnish fuel oil, gasoline and lubricants ; that 
Washington, Oregon and California have an arable 
area sufficient to supply their populations, and, in fact, 
if intensively cultivated, to supply the United States 
with grains and all necessary foodstuffs. Such a ter- 
ritory if it fell into the hands of an enemy would make 
them self-sustaining without the need of a transport 
service to their home country. 

At a safe distance from the Pacific coast, and still 
available for transportation over our transcontinental 
railroads, are the supplies of coal and iron in the 
Colorado district. Further, there are exhaustible sup- 
plies of copper in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, 
Wyoming and the other Rocky Mountain and Sierra 
States. With such potential resources and with a 
liberty-loving people the western portion of the United 
States should be made so powerful that no nation 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 219 

would dare to attack us from this quarter. At present 
it is the most inviting front exposed to attack. 

One of the greatest motives for the adequate pro- 
tection of the Pacific coast is that it furnishes the 
United States with a means for building fleets of naval 
and mercantile vessels and placing them in commis- 
sion, independently of the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico 
facilities which we possess. This power should be 
utilized to the fullest extent. and our ship yards and 
machine shops on the Pacific should be given every 
encouragement. We are at present building import- 
ant naval units on the Pacific and this policy should 
be followed in all further allotments for naval and 
merchant ship construction. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

PANAMA CANAL DEFENSE. 

Viewed in its international aspects the Panama 
Canal is a national liability of the highest nature. We 
expended more than $400,000,000 in the completion of 
the canal, and upon putting it in service adhered to 
the broadest interpretation of our treaty with Great 
Britain, making the canal open to all nations on equal 
terms. We thus imposed upon ourselves the same 
obligations in the matter of canal fees that we de- 
manded from other nations and further obligated our- 
selves to the defense of the canal zone. At that time 
there did not appear to be any likelihood that the 
United States would be involved in a world war. 
Events in the last two and a half years have moved 
so rapidly that we are now in a war not of our own 
choosing, but one which has been forced upon us in 
spite of our acting with strict neutrality toward all 
belligerents. 

The Panama Canal Zone constitutes the short 
route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and vice versa, 
and now that we have utilized this and adapted our 
commercial and military plans, with the use of the 
Panama Canal as a prime factor, it would be a serious 
setback if the canal should be put out of commission 
either by blockade or the destruction of the locks. 

The first consideration in the defense of the Pan- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 221 

ama Canal and zone contemplates guarding the east- 
ern entrance. The approach from the Caribbean Sea 
is the one which it now appears would be open to the 
first attack in the event of German sea raiders breaking 
through the North Sea cordon of British battleships. 
Even with submarines there is a latent danger that 
injury could be done at the entrance to the canal. Our 
work of fortifying the breakwaters and the direct ap- 
proaches of the canal has been progressing in routine 
manner, but has not been accelerated under the im- 
minence of war. 

The first great system of locks at Gatun represents 
one of the points needing strongest military protection. 
Injury to the locks means discontinuance of the canal 
service and might involve many months or years' delay 
in repair work. The Culebra Cut is also a section of 
the canal which needs the greatest protection. By 
modern use of dynamite the none too secure banks 
might be shaken and a serious slide choke the canal. 
As the western end of the canal is reached, the second 
series of locks, those of Pedro Miguel, have to be ade- 
quately protected, as have, also, the next succeeding 
locks of Mila Flores. 

To properly guard the canal requires the co-opera- 
tion of the navy and army, the army using its coast 
defense forces and a sufficient body of infantry to 
properly patrol the zone. The navy must be utilized 
as a mobile force in the Caribbean Sea and be ready 
to carry an offensive movement against an approach- 
ing enemy. 

To be properly guarded against surprise or a siege, 
sufficient military stores should be kept in the Panama 
Canal Zone and at a safe distance from either end to 



222 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

maintain all forces operating from the canal for a 
period of at least two years. The record of the long 
sieges that have been brought against Gibraltar since 
it has been in British possession shows that Great 
Britain has not overlooked the importance of regard- 
ing the entrance to the Mediterranean, the first link 
in her chain of communication with the Orient, as 
worth defending. 

On a larger scale, but with exactly the same 
strategic importance, the Panama Canal Zone may be 
compared to Gibraltar. The narrow strip of land on 
either side of the canal and the watersheds of the 
Gatun Lake and the other lakes and rivers forming 
the natural and artificial course of the canal must be 
protected by small motor boats such as are used as 
submarine chasers. These would act as a ready 
means for patrolling the wide stretches of water 
along the canal route and be available in case of 
blockade to act against submarines at either end of 
the canal. 

With an adequate foreign intelligence service in 
the Panama, U. S. of Colombia and in the Central 
American States no formidable mobilization of forces 
could be made for land action against the canal with- 
out our Government being apprised. Therefore, the 
chance of an armed expedition of Pan-Americans mov- 
ing against the canal is remote. The danger is chiefly 
from attack by naval forces and expeditionary armies 
from the Eastern Hemisphere. 

On the west coast the protection of Panama Bay 
and the approach to the canal entrance and break- 
water must be accomplished in the same manner as the 
eastern entrance, by a fleet of scout boats and a re- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 223 

serve of battleships competent to carry a rapid and 
active offensive to an approaching enemy fleet. 

Heavy coast artillery is located at the fortifications 
of the Panama Canal, and supplementing these must 
be a full supply of mines and protective nets. There 
must also be permanently located there a sufficient 
squadron of air planes and hydroplanes to permit of 
extended oversea observation. The use of airships for 
scouting at great distances from either end of the canal 
is the best assurance we could have against surprise 
attack. Wireless stations of the greatest range should 
be located at each end of the canal. The one at Cristobal 
would cover the eastern territory and in emergency 
could serve to keep in touch with the Pacific coast of 
the United States. The one near Panama City would 
serve in the ordinary course to keep in touch with the 
entire Southern Pacific fleet and with San Francisco. 
By having two high-powered stations in the zone, the 
chance of either one being out of commission would 
not paralyze the indispensable service of wireless to 
and from the zone. 

It would not be too much to make the army and 
navy plans for the canal contemplate the residence of 
at least ten per cent, of the regular forces of the United 
States in this area. Our army and navy should ar- 
range to have a constant changing of the units that 
are assigned to the canal zone, so that, covering a 
period of given years, practically all officers and mem- 
bers of the engineering staff of the army would have 
had some service along the Panama Canal and all 
members of the navy would have had the education 
of actually passing from one end of the world's great- 
est artificial waterway to the other. This would be 



224 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

insurance of the highest character, as it would make 
the men who have to defend our possessions familiar 
with the problems that would have to be solved.- A 
large force always available within the Panama Zone 
could be drawn upon for action either on the Atlantic 
or Pacific coast for our mainland or for our scattered 
possessions, or could be made into a quickly available 
expeditionary force to be sent to any quarter of the 
world. This would be following the wisdom of Great 
Britain in maintaining a strong force in Egypt, avail- 
able for action in the Mediterranean or to be sent as 
an expeditionary force through the Suez Canal or west 
through the Straits of Gibraltar. Our problem would 
not be as hard to solve, as we would have no hostile 
tribes to repress as is the case in Egypt. 

Our duty is to make the Panama Canal Zone a 
national asset and not a hazard. To do this the zone 
must be strongly protected and made a military sta- 
tion of the first magnitude with ultimate rail connec- 
tions to North and South America. 

As a preliminary move in this time of war notice 
should be sent to the nations of the world that all 
ships passing through the canal must have their 
passengers and crews kept below and with portholes 
closed and curtained, the ship's navigation being en- 
trusted to United States officials. This would prevent 
any observation of military arrangements for the 
protection of the zone and would guard against 
the possible escape of enemy spies on neutral 
ships while making the passage of the canal. 
This regulation could be extended to cover all 
United States merchant ships as well, so that no ad- 
vantage would be given our own private shipping as 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 225 

compared to that of foreign nations which might be 
regarded as abrogating treaties. 

In time of war another restriction which should 
be put on the canal and made binding would be that 
none but Allies of the United States be permitted to 
have their armed vessels pass through the canal. This 
arises from the fact that in the world alliance a read- 
justment of coalitions is not within the control of the 
United States and that at any time a foreign power, 
friendly with us, might suddenly be allied with our 
enemies, and no military information should be made 
available. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

CANADIAN BORDER DEFENSE. 

Since the days of the American Revolution and 
the . conclusion of peace the greatest friendship has 
existed between Canada and the United States. Our 
citizens have regarded the inhabitants of the Dominion 
as cousins in respect of mutual ancestry and in the 
fact of their having practically the same institutions 
guarding life, liberty and the full protection of citizens 
in the enjoyment of the widest human rights. Except 
for a tariff there has been no barrier put upon the 
passage of citizens of the United States or Canada 
entering either country. We have in the United States 
a very large number of citizens of Canadian birth and 
they represent some of our most prominent and suc- 
cessful men and women. 

Within recent years many thousands of farmers 
in our Northwest and Middle West have migrated to 
Manitoba. Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Colum- 
bia. The Canadians have access to Alaska for moving 
the products of the Yukon, their great mining terri- 
tory, and along our Great Lakes system, Ontario and 
Quebec enjoy the mutual privileges on Lake Superior, 
Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the Niagara 
River. 

The States of the Union that border on or are on 
waters facing Canada include, from east to west, 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 227 

Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North 
Dakota, Montana and Washington. To this must be 
added States which border on the Great Lakes and 
would, therefore, become subject to naval attack in a 
situation that would make us face Great Britain as a 
foe. These States include Illinois, with Chicago on 
the lake front; Wisconsin, with Milwaukee as a lake 
front city; Indiana, with Michigan City as a lake front 
city; Ohio, with Cleveland as a lake front city. Under 
these conditions sufficient protection should be given 
our northern borders to safeguard them from invasion. 
Parallel national highways, running from east to west, 
and at distances from the transcontinental railroads, 
offer feasible and effective lines of communication. A 
grand, national highway, passing from the State of 
Maine to the State of Washington and at a reasonable 
distance from the Canadian border, could constitute 
the first transcontinental highway. South of this 
should be another highway running from Chicago to 
the Pacific coast. The great projected and partially 
completed Lincoln Highway represents another of 
these parallel roadways that should be pushed to com- 
pletion. South of this, and passing through St. Louis, 
Kansas City and thence to the Pacific coast, should be 
another grand highway, and from New Orleans to El 
Paso one should cross the States of Louisiana and 
Texas. From El Paso a national highway should pass 
through Deming, Tucson, Yuma to San Diego. 

Running north and south and transversing these 
continental highways should be Federal highways 
reaching from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to points 
near the Canadian border or the shores of the Great 



228 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Lakes, and on the Pacific coast, running from the Mex- 
ican border to points near the Dominion line. The 
construction of these roads should be accomplished as 
promptly as possible; they should be of concrete so as 
to be serviceable twelve months a year. Some basis 
for the Federal government paying half and the States 
traversed paying their proportion should be settled 
upon. 

No work of permanent military character could 
be of greater importance than good road construction. 
The placing of these roads at sufficient distances from 
railroads would guard against the untoward circum- 
stance of any of our railroad systems falling into the 
hands of an invading army. If our usual method of 
having a highway run parallel to and immediately next 
to a railroad were to be followed in constructing these 
national military roads the highway and the railroad 
might both be lost at the same time. 

When completed this system of national highways 
would form excellent lines of communication for the 
movement of our troops and transport motor trains 
and would always be available for the use of our citi- 
zens in the transaction of their daily work and for 
touring. It should be the purpose of those having the 
planning of our highways to make them at least one 
hundred feet wide with an intervening area suitable 
for parking, so that traffic would pass right and left 
and avoid confusion and collisions. These national 
highways should be so planned as to provide two side- 
walks, two bicycle and motor-cycle paths, three plots 
for trees, one on either edge of the road and one in the 
center, and two concrete roadways for right and left 
traffic. Work on such a plan is not to be viewed in the 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 229 

light of a transitory, military undertaking, but as a 
permanent betterment of the country, indispensable in 
war time and invaluable in times of peace. 



CHAPTER XL. 

GREAT LAKES DEFENSE. 

In the treaty relationship between the United 
States and Great Britain covering the Canadian border, 
each country is estopped from maintaining armed ves- 
sels on the Great Lakes. This has been one of the chief 
causes for building up the strong friendship which 
exists between Americans on each side of the border 
line. There is no present reason for imagining that 
the friendly relations between Great Britain and the 
United States which have remained unshaken for more 
than one hundred years will be strained during the 
present world war. The differences which have arisen 
since August, 1914, from the conduct of the British 
blockade of the North Sea, have been in regard to 
technical violations by Great Britain of international 
law, but dealt only with material things. Great Britain 
has been punctilious in protecting the lives not only of 
neutrals, but of the Teutonic peoples who came under 
control of the British in open military and naval activi- 
ties. 

The partial interruption of our mails, destined foi 
Germany and her Allies, or to countries that were not 
adhering strictly to neutrality in the matter of check- 
ing contraband from entering Germany, has been a 
cause of some annoyance and business delay to some 
citizens of the United States, but England's general 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 231 

conduct of the blockade has been in strict conformity 
with international law. 

Where merchandise has been commandeered ade- 
quate compensation has been given. Where contra- 
band goods have been apprehended in transit, even 
these have, in nearly all instances, been taken over by 
the British government and paid for, which was a 
gratuitous act on the part of the government. In some 
instances confiscations have been made of contraband 
without compensation, but this was in strict conform- 
ity with international custom. 

These facts form the broad basis for the belief that 
the United States and Great Britain will not become 
estranged during the present war. It makes the cir- 
cumstance unlikely that our Great Lakes will have to 
be protected by armed ships against Canada. 

Perhaps the only contingency that could arise to 
make this necessary would be if the Dominion of 
Canada was to be invaded by enemies of Great Britain. 
We would then be free, under our treaty, to immedi- 
ately protect our Canadian border from Maine to 
Washington and to place armed vessels on the Great 
Lakes. The effort should certainly be made to so alter 
our treaty relations with Great Britain that both Can- 
ada and the United States should be privileged to 
operate vessels of minor naval importance on the Great 
Lakes. This would affect the members of the naval 
reserve and the similar organizations in Canada, and 
permit young men in the lake regions to gain experi- 
ence in seamanship and gunnery under actual war con- 
ditions. It would not then be necessary for men in our 
Middle West and northwestern States to go either to 
the Atlantic or Pacific coasts to have actual naval 



232 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

training. The similar advantage would be offered 
Great Britain in what has proven to be one of her most 
loyal domains. 

From a land aspect we are prevented from build- 
ing forts or other military works near our northern 
border, just as Canada is bound to keep a neutral zone 
near its southern border line. Except for the points 
of conduct where customs inspectors stop citizens from 
the United States passing into Canada and Canadians 
entering the United States the relationship between the 
two great bodies of people is as close and cordial as 
that existing between any two adjoining States of the 
Union. Canada is our greatest customer for all classes 
of merchandise. There is an import trade between the. 
Dominion and the United States. It would take a tre- 
mendous mental upheaval to array this country against 
its northern neighbor, or to prompt Canada to attack 
the United States. 

The United States Government, acting indepen- 
dently of any State assistance, should make the water 
line from Chicago to the mouth of the Mississippi 
available for ocean-going vessels. Chicago, now the 
second largest city in the United States, the greatest 
railroad center in the world and the center of popula- 
tion of the United States, should be afforded a water- 
way for vessels reaching all points of the world with- 
out having to break cargoes in transit. With the 
Chicago canal joining the Mississippi and ships of 
moderate tonnage capable of entering Lake Michigan 
our inland water system would then be made available 
for ships to leave Duluth, Marquette, Mackinaw, De- 
troit, Buffalo, Erie or Cleveland and reach the high seas. 
This would give ore ships, lumber and grain ships the 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 233 

advantage of loading at our Great Lakes ports and 
making clear passage to any port in the world. 

The length and depth of locks in canals in the 
system joining the lakes with the Mississippi should 
be sufficient to permit the passage of naval vessels of 
the type of submarines moving on the surface, sub- 
marine destroyers, despatch boats and the other minor 
craft of the navy. In accomplishing this military pur- 
pose the waterways would also be available for our 
merchant craft. 

As the inland waterways of the United States are 
under domestic control it is to be hoped that we will be 
alert in protecting our interests in not opening these 
canals and waterways to foreign shipping to compete 
against our own interests. 

All existing treaties of the United States compre- 
hend the entrance of foreign vessels to our now exist- 
ing seaports. The development of new ports by the 
construction of canals would give us the privilege of 
utilizing them without extending a free privilege to 
other nations. On the matter of tolls we have yielded 
to the importunities of Great Britain in the Panama 
and charge our own merchant ships a tonnage fee ex- 
actly the same as foreign ships are required to pay, 
because of an ambiguous treaty clause. In future na- 
tional preparedness should be considered as paramount 
in negotiating all treaties and our actions should not 
be needlessly impeded. 

If our inland waterways are brought to a higher 
development and lake ports are made available for 
direct ocean shipping we should monopolize this ad- 
vantage or secure reciprocal advantages from countries 
that wish to send ships up the Mississippi and into our 



234 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Great Lakes waterways. In this connection it might 
be well to arrange with our friendly neighbor, Canada, 
to have a connecting canal that would make the St. 
Lawrence River accessible for our ships to pass to and 
from the Great Lakes. With such an advantage both 
the Dominion and the United States would find their 
trade relations improved and their defensive potentiali- 
ties multiplied. The coalition fleet of Great Britain and 
the United States with the advantages of this country 
and the British Empire would make these English- 
speaking nations the dominant factor in the world at 
the conclusion of the present war. 

Instead of depending upon separate projects 
for the control of the Mississippi levees and for the 
improvement of the Chicago ship canal, the present 
Congress should harmonize these improvements and 
provide that work begin at once as one of the most 
necessary moves toward national preparedness. With 
our army being increased to a war standing thousands 
of new officers will be employed and they should be 
more than drill masters. Great engineering projects 
can be undertaken, and in place of working the men to 
exhaustion in marching and counter-marching and in 
field tactics, after a point of proficiency is reached, the 
main part of the army could be directed to accomplish 
an improvement in our waterways and highways. It 
could also serve to properly drain our great Mississippi 
basin and thus increase the productivity of our richest 
agricultural areas. 

All of these improvements centering in the Middle 
West and up the Mississippi valley join directly to the 
question of a proper defense of the Great Lakes in the 
extreme probability of Canada being hostile to the 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 235 

United States or being invaded by an enemy. Any 
hostile armed force entering Canada would be a menace 
while on American soil, and be construed into a foe 
of the United States. This is a fact which is the spirit 
of our Monroe Doctrine and our national policy is to 
resent and oppose aggression against territory in the 
Western Hemisphere. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE MUNITION 
PLANTS. 

It is by distributing risks that the great insurance 
companies are able to make a low premium rate on 
lives, health, indemnity, fire and all classes of property 
risks, as well as to insure business ventures against 
losses on land or sea. Their rates are figured by expert 
actuaries who determine the percentage of risks cover- 
ing many cases and strike an average. It is then pos- 
sible to pay losses by having a large enough number of 
policyholders to create a surplus fund for this purpose. 

In exactly the same way the great military nations 
of the world have discovered that the proper way to 
insure themselves against lack of military supplies is 
by distributing the orders given by their governments 
among private munition manufacturers, as well as al- 
lotting a certain percentage to government-owned 
plants. In practice this has brought Great Britain, 
Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Japan, and even Rus- 
sia, to a point where these nations and empires have 
been able to meet the stupendous demands of the pres- 
ent world war. 

Taking as an example the past forty years, it is 
seen that the Imperial German government encouraged 
the development of the Krupp works and the munition 
manufacturers in Essen, Dusseldorf and in other manu- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 237 

facturing centers throughout the empire. Encourage- 
ment was given to private manufacturers of airships 
and motor engines, and great quantities of motor 
trucks were purchased as an encouragement to the new 
automobile industry. France likewise extended gener- 
ous support to private plants for the manufacture of 
arms, ammunition and all other war accoutrements. 
Japan and Italy followed the same policy. 

In the case of Great Britain her small arms manu- 
facturers received government orders and were encour- 
aged to seek business throughout the world. On heavy 
ordnance such plants as the Enfield attained world- 
wide reputation for producing large naval and land 
defense ordnance and shells. 

When the supreme moment came all of these 
nations were able to turn to their private munitions 
plants and ask for intensive production. Skilled oper- 
atives in all of these plants knew how to make goods 
on government order, and there was not a moment''; 
delay in getting the wheels in motion. As the war ex- 
tended and became mammoth in its proportions, addi- 
tional plants, patterned on those already in operation 
and well organized, were added. Operatives were dis- 
tributed and acted as coaches for the unskilled who 
were enrolled by the government munitions depart- 
ments. 

Applying the conditions to the United States it is 
clear that while we have remained a peaceful and dis- 
tinctly commercial nation for the past fifty years one 
result has been to prevent our keeping pace with the 
other leading nations in the matter of armament and 
reserve supplies of military equipment, or the creation 
of a military reserve in men. 



238 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

A few enterprising manufacturers have gone into 
the ordnance business, but have not received enough 
orders from the United States government to make 
this feature of their work very profitable. 

There are no plants in control of or operated by the 
United States government equipped to produce small 
arms or heavy ordnance ammunition or miscellaneous 
munitions in quantities needed to equip an army of 
500,000 to a million men. Nor have we the facilities for 
furnishing our navy with material from Federal plants. 

The survey of the United States by the board of 
national defense shows that there are more than 30,000 
manufacturers who are registered and willing to ac- 
cept government orders for some part of the necessary 
war equipment of the nation. It should, therefore, be 
the policy of this Government to distribute its orders 
and encourage the development of skilled artisans em- 
ployed in our private plants in handling government 
work. It took a full year for England to mobilize a 
sufificient force of skilled operatives to create supplies 
adequate to meet the requirements of her field armies 
and for building up a reserve for the protection of the 
empire. Russia has not yet arrived at a point where 
the production of munitions is equal to the necessities 
of her armies and her fleets. 

There does not seem to be a reasonable ground 
upon which to base the assumption that the United 
States, over night, could have a flow of satisfactory 
supplies produced in unorganized industries. On the 
question of powder and high explosive shells alone, 
the experience of years is needed to produce satis- 
factory results. 

One of the largest steel corporations in this coun- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 239 

try is on record with the statement that it has spent 
hundreds of thousands of dollars in a fruitless effort 
to produce high explosive shells that will meet the 
test of our army and navy. If this is the case in a 
plant regarded as one of the most efficient in the world, 
what would result from the turning over of contracts 
to organizations that had never even experimented in 
the manufacture of ordnance and large projectiles? 
Delay would be the first result and national disaster 
might follow. 

When the world war created an instant demand 
for small arms several large and competent manufac- 
turing concerns in this country received contracts for 
producing army rifles for foreign governments and at 
once undertook to fill these orders. Lack of experience 
and inadequate equipment has resulted in great losses 
on the work and in fatal delays in delivery. In some 
instances more than 65 per cent, of the rifles are de- 
clared to have been rejected by inspectors as not com- 
ing up to the specified requirements. In the manu- 
facture of shells for large and small field guns the same 
result has followed in many plants. The percentage of 
rejection of materials made in this country has been 
astonishingly large. The urgent need of the Allies 
prompted them to be lenient in acceptances. But de- 
fective material had to be rejected. 

In a few of the highly organized manufactories of 
this country that are making torpedoes and other 
articles requiring skilful construction, satisfactory re- 
sults are attained. This comes from the fact that for 
years this class of work has been done until the execu- 
tives and operatives are fully familiar with all details 
and have practically standardized their production. 



240 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

A great advantage that accrues to the privately- 
owned plant is that business other than that derived 
from the Government must be secured in open com- 
petition with the world in order to keep the organiza- 
tion going. This results in the steady employment of 
a large executive staff and of the actual operatives on 
machines and in the various processes of manufacture. 

It has been the custom with the Government to 
build a certain number of naval ships and to manu- 
facture a certain percentage of its own powder and 
munitions, but the work has been done intermittently- 
The rate of pay in the government plants is not higher 
than that in the open market and there is no incentive 
for highly skilled mechanics to work for the Federal 
government when it is known that such employment 
is transitory. Many of the great corporations, on the 
contrary, as in the steel industry and in lines associated 
in the manufacture of munitions, have employes who 
have been in their service for periods of 25 years or 
more and it is the policy to pension such worthy em- 
ployes. 

With the leading munition plants and steel works 
located in States that have drastic Employers' Liability 
laws operatives work under the most favorable condi- 
tions and are protected as to life and limb. 

With the United States facing the necessity of 
equipping field armies that may aggregate from two 
to live millions and a navy that is to be brought up to 
equal that of the world's great powers, there is no 
time for waiting the slow development of Federal 
plants. The ones we have should be augmented and 
additional plants established as occasion permits, but 
the great pressure should now be brought to bear upon 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 241 

increasing the production of our privately-owned muni- 
tion plants so that the necessary reserve in arms and 
munitions may be speedily assembled. With the ca- 
pacity of our manufacturers exerted to the full, not 
only our own needs but our exports to the Allies who 
are fighting the battles on land and sea for the sup- 
pression of rampant militarism can be safeguarded. 

The talk of placing rigid embargoes upon the sale 
of munitions to the Allies emanates from those who are 
either short-sighted or have the mendacious purpose of 
weakening the powers that are now closing in on the 
Central Allies. We are to assemble untrained men 
to be formed into armies who cannot conceivably use 
ammunition against an enemy for months or perhaps 
years. It would, therefore, be an act bordering on 
imbecility to have great reserves of ammunition in 
this country that could be put to immediate use in 
defeating a common enemy. 

The great world war has spread until it involves 
practically every nation in the world and is costing 
the active belligerents in excess of $100,000,000 a day, 
or the cost of the Panama Canal every four days. Such 
figures are bewildering. 

The United States should not add to the unneces- 
sary burden of the people by investing hundreds of 
millions in the construction of Federal munition plants, 
when there already exist adequate facilities in private 
organizations. The course of wisdom dictates that 
United States officers supervise the work alloted to 
existing plants and thus exert all energy in meeting 
the needs of the present .crisis. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

NAVAL CONSTRUCTION IN WAR TIME. 

Owing to a policy which has been followed since 
the conclusion of the Civil War this country has failed 
to develop its mercantile marine service. As a conse- 
quence our shipbuilding facilities have failed to keep 
pace with our national development in all other lines. 
With the Civil War came the intensive development of 
the iron clad as a type of war vessel and iron ships as 
types for merchant vessels. Our ship yards in New 
England and along the Atlantic coast to points on the 
Chesapeake were capable of building the swiftest sail- 
ing vessels in the world. When the transition from 
wooden sailing vessels to steam-propelled iron ships 
occurred we were embroiled in the Civil War, and 
England, Holland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark 
and Germany were active in building up freight ships 
for the transoceanic trade, as well as to handle the 
shipping of the United States. Immediately following 
the termination of the Civil War our merchants, bank- 
ers and manufacturers concentrated their efforts upon 
restoring the prosperity of our country and neglected 
sea transportation to solve domestic problems. 

We find now that, except for the building of naval 
vessels for our Government and for foreign govern- 
ments that required our superior steel armor plate, this 
country has fallen behind in the matter of building 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 243 

deep sea vessels. Private plants found that their only 
customers were those desiring coastwise vessels, as our 
navigation laws are so restrictive as to repel, rather 
than to invite, capital to enter into general shipping. 
Now that we are called upon to create an enormous 
tonnage in naval ships under forced pressure, and wc 
need merchant ships to carry our goods throughout the 
world, it is seen that a proper cultivation of the ship- 
building trade is a matter of national defense and 
should be restored as one of our cardinal principles. 

The construction of naval vessels in war time is a 
matter that the Government can control by an exercise 
of its eminent domain and by commandeering plants. 
It cannot, however, get the full capacity of this nation 
under such forced pressure for the reason that our 
ship yards cannot double their capacity or find skilled 
workmen or the necessary machinery ready at hand. 
Every ship yard in the United States is now working 
at full capacity and some are operating on double 
shifts. This will continue to be the case while war 
lasts and while the other countries in the war are on 
an abnormal basis. 

Meanwhile this Government should take immedi- 
ate steps to increase the productive capacity of the 
shipbuilding plants we have and convert every naval 
station into a naval construction unit. In the cases 
of the plants we now operate and that are working on 
Government contract the strictest military control 
should prevail. 

It would be a national calamity to have any hostile 
act impede the operations of a plant such as the Bethle- 
hem Steel Company at South Bethlehem, Pa., the New- 
port News Shipbuilding Company at Newport News, 



244 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Va., the Fore River plant at Quincy, Mass., the Sub- 
marine Corporation's plant at New London, Conn., 
or any of the other plants on the Atlantic coast, and our 
Pacific coast plants such as the Union Shipbuilding 
Works, of San Francisco, should be guarded as one of 
our great national assets. To effect this a protective 
zone should be acquired, surrounding the plants and 
adequate patrol be instituted by our regular army or 
units from the State militia of the several States in 
which plants are located. Supplementing this should 
be an air squadron capable of repellin^^ hostile air at- 
tacks. Anti-aircraft guns on suitable towers should 
be made part of the protective feature. The entire 
plants should be surrounded by a barbed wire cordon 
and access to the plants should be strictly regulated. 
Such moves are not those of cowardice or unnecessary 
apprehension, but follow the example that has saved 
the European nations from having their great munition 
works. and ship yards destroyed by air raids and naval 
attack. When a great battleship is nearing completion 
and represents an investment of ten to fifteen million 
dollars and a lapse of time in construction of from three 
to four years its loss is irreparable. 

Certainly to exercise every precaution to safeguard 
such a means of national strength is of transcendent 
importance. 

The protection of the great steel works and ship 
yards that are now engaged on government work 
should not be left to private enterprise, but be one of 
the proper functions of the United States government. 
The location of armor plate plants and ordnance works 
has been undertaken in part by the decision of the 
United States government to erect its own armor plant 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 245 

This, however, is something which cannot be made 
available in the present crisis. 

We are calling upon and will find the loyal support 
of our existing private plants given to the people 
through the Government. As fast as the necessary 
development can create additional facilities private 
armor plants and ordnance plants should be located in 
Duluth, Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago and Mil- 
waukee. These cities can all be reached by ships 
plying the Great Lakes and can bring ore to the 
furnaces in the most economical way. At the end of 
hostilities the plants can be converted to useful com- 
merce. These cities are remote from any of our coasts 
and would be the least likely to be affected by either 
naval or air raids. Further they are cities that are 
available for the heaviest drafts on skilled labor. In 
railroad and water facilities they are well situated for 
the carrying of necessary supplies, in conducting such 
plants and for keeping the avenues of communication 
open for the support of great populations. All of these 
circumstances must be given consideration now when 
time is the chief consideration in striving for national 
preparedness for the world war in which we are 
engaged. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

AMERICAN OFFENSIVE DEFINED. 

American manhood and womanhood must face 
the stern reality that war is not a matter of defense, 
but is fundamentally a matter requiring the participant 
to engage in offensive action. To win a war a nation 
must overcome its enemy not by words but by deeds. 
The more vigorous the onslaught the quicker the re- 
establishment of peace. This brings to the United 
States the impelling necessity to be prepared to wage 
an aggressive war against any enemy. Now that we 
are placed in a position where we must uphold the 
honor of our Government and re-establish respect for 
our flag throughout the world, the full armed force of 
the United States on land and sea must be thrown 
into action. 

The immediate requirements call for the creation 
of four grand field armies; one for the Atlantic coast, 
one to protect the Pacific coast, one to operate in the 
States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and on the 
Mexican border, and a fourth to be equipped and en- 
tered into the fighting zones of the world war where 
the battle of civilized nations against barbarism is 
being fought. 

National honor and national courage are subject 
to the same test today that they have been since 
history began. No nation can win an honorable war 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 247 

on the defensive and no nation can ask to benefit from 
the results of a general war in which it does nothing 
further than act as a camp sutler and sublimated 
banker. It is not dollars and it is not food that will 
make the citizenship of the United States stand forth 
before the world as courageous. Our army and our 
navy must find its place in the battle line, showing in 
valorous deeds that we are sons of patriots who dare 
to fight for liberty and its maintenance. 

The first American offensive should include the 
despatch of as large a proportion of our navy as can be 
immediately gathered in the Atlantic waters and sent 
to join the Entente Allies. While England, France, 
Italy and Japan unite to hold the German and Austrian 
fleets in their home waters the United States is not in 
danger of attack by a Teutonic high sea fleet. It, 
therefore, is a strategic as well as an honorable act 
for the United States to throw the weight of its naval 
armament against a common enemy. 

Our next offensive move should be to send an 
expeditionary force to one of the battlefields of Europe 
and to maintain this force without drawing upon the 
resources of the country to whose succor we go. The 
natural fiel'd to cover would be France, where the 
Entente Allies are now waging a victorious campaign 
and are gaining ground and lifting the enemy out of 
his trenches. For the United States, with its present 
small available army, an expeditionary unit of 40,000 
men would be sufficient to show our intent and could 
be followed by other units as rapidly as they could be 
assembled. It was for the moral involved that Russia 
sent a contingent of some 40,000 men to France and 
an equal force to act Avith the Entente armies under 



248 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

General Serral at Salonica. The presence of the Rus- 
sian troops in the battle line gave eloquent token that 
the great empire, now verging to a republic, was in 
the war to win lasting victory and would have none 
with a separate and ignominious peace. 

The other offensive move of the United States 
under present conditions should be in bringing an im- 
mediate settlement of the Mexican question. This is 
a matter of supreme importance as it leaves a great 
flank open to possible assault. Temporizing with the 
Mexican question from now on would be governmental 
madness. No general or no admiral would consider 
his position safe if he were flanked or quartered b}^ 
such a formidable menace. This nation has done 
everything within the bounds of reason to bring peace 
and stability to Mexico, and now by a supreme effort 
a stable government should be re-established in the 
sister republic on our southern border. All of the 
military forces that will be called together from west- 
ern, southern, northwestern and middle west States 
should be concentrated on the southern border and 
trained and drilled where they will be taught actual 
field manoeuvers and at the same time be available 
to defeat any aggressive move from across the Mexi- 
can border, while our diplomatic representatives ne- 
gotiate the settlement of the Mexican revolution. 

Our navy as it reaches a grade of efficiency and 
enlargement, under the enormous program now adopt- 
ed, should be concentrated into a punitive force and 
sent against Germany for the purpose of compelling 
satisfaction for the wilful murder of our citizens on 
the high seas and wanton destruction of our property 
and disregard for sacred treaty obligations. The 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 249 

destruction of Germany's high sea fleet, without the 
participation of the United States, would be a matter 
of national dishonor. Our war with Germany is one 
due to unparalleled aggressions and atrocities, and this 
nation cannot remain quiescent or passive, having 
once accepted the gage of war. For American battle- 
ships to ride at anchor in American harbors would be 
a strange culmination for the history which has written 
American sea annals as among the greatest in the 
world. Every man in the navy of the United States 
can be counted upon to do his duty, and the place 
for every available ship in our service is on the high 
seas seeking an engagement with the enemy. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

PROTECTING OUR EXPORT TRADE DURING 

WAR. 

Every nation that has ever developed an overseas 
trade has been jealous to protect it and when engaged 
in war has not neglected sending its merchant ships 
under heavy convoy when necessary. This was the 
practice when Spain dominated the Western Hemi- 
sphere and was supreme throughout Europe. It be- 
came the fixed policy of Holland when the Dutch 
admirals and the Dutch merchantmen ruled the seas 
for the better part of two centuries. When maritime 
supremacy passed to Great Britain the policies of main- 
taining a supreme high sea fleet and the building up 
of a merchant marine were adopted by the govern- 
ment and have since been adhered to without devia- 
tion. 

With the United States our history shows that 
during the Revolution we struggled with a small navy, 
but still had audacious merchantmen that defied the 
British fleets and continued to trade with Europe and 
with distant countries in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. 

In the period from the Revolution to the War of 
1812 our merchant vessels increased in number, but 
our navy was allowed to decline, and it was not until 
we were engaged in a struggle to retain our hard won 
liberties that our ships-of-the-line were increased in 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 251 

number and our activity as a sea-fighting nation be- 
came intensified. During the Mexican war, because 
our enemy was poorly equipped from a navy stand- 
point, no notable engagement occurred, but our success 
was due to the landing of our expeditionary army at 
Vera Cruz under the protection of our fleet. 

Our Civil War accentuated the necessity of a 
navy, and our lack of one during the first three years 
resulted in the serious breakdown of our export trade 
and the almost complete dislocation of our imports. 
Confederate raiders and the armed vessels of the Con- 
federates preyed upon our shipping so successfully that 
the American merchant marine as it existed in 1861 
was all but obliterated by the time peace was declared 
in 1865. At the same time that our shipping was 
being destroyed the vessels in control of the Con- 
federacy were being hunted down and sunk by the 
United States Navy. Thus we were being doubly in- 
jured as all losses after the restoration of the Union 
had to be borne by the citizens of this country. 

From 1865 to the present day we have never re- 
newed our ascendancy as world shippers, but have 
had to depend upon foreign vessels for carrying over 
ninety per cent, of our tonnage. 

In a world war, such as that which is now raging, 
the United States must protect its own export trade 
by having ships, under the American flag, on a bas's 
that will permit of their being operated by private 
enterprise. Every encouragement should be given t.) 
the construction of standardized vessels of moderate 
draught, averaging from 3,000 to 10,000 tons. In order 
to keep the channels of trade open, where necessary, 
this Government should adopt the policy which all 



252 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

other sea-faring nations have found to be sound and 
escort our merchant ships with a suitable convoy. 

While the navies of the Central Powers are bottled 
up there is no menace to our ships except from attack 
by submarine ; but the latent danger rests in the escape 
of surface raiders from the North Sea or the Mediter- 
ranean. During the past thirty months or more the 
world has seen what devastation can be wrought by 
a single armed vessel when it ravages the high seas 
in search of merchant vessels to be sunk with or with- 
out notice as the action of the commanding officers 
may dictate. 

This country is successfully establishing dollar 
exchange throughout the world as a basis for foreign 
credit and to attract trade to the United States. It 
does not serve a practical purpose to establish banking 
facilities for trade when we have few ships to carry our 
goods and when all orders cannot be filled. Our first 
step toward safeguarding our export trade should in- 
clude the negotiation of trade treaties with all of the 
Pan-American countries that can be interested in a 
closer association with the United States. 

If our Monroe Doctrine imposes upon us the 
sacred obligation of guaranteeing the smaller repub- 
lics of the Western Hemisphere against assault from 
any foreign powers, a reciprocal relation in matters of 
trade should not be difficult to secure. It must be 
our navy and merchant ships that will qualify us to 
maintain our export trade during the present war 
where tonnage is scarce and in the days of peace when 
each nation, now engaged, and the neutrals, as well, 
will use their ships for the upbuilding of their own 
trade. 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 253 

Not with regard to the present hour only, but in 
the widest aspect that the United States can view the 
matter of preparedness it should aim, through its 
statesmen, to develop a system of communication in 
the Western Hemisphere that would comprehend, 
within thirty years, the extension of our railroad sys- 
tems so that there would be an unbroken rail com- 
munication from Alaska to the Panama Canal, and 
from this point along the western coast of South 
America to Valparaiso, and on the eastern coast of 
South America railroads extending to Buenos Aires. 
We have on the continent of North America two trans- 
continental roads in the Dominion of Canada and five 
transcontinental lines in the United States. With one 
to be constructed from New Orleans, passing through 
Texas and bordering the Gulf of Mexico, and extend- 
ing to the Panama Canal, railroad communication from 
the Atlantic seaports to the Pacific would be complete. 
The development in South America of so prodigious 
an undertaking as projected to connect that continent 
by rail could only be attained by having the stability 
of the southern republics unqualifiedly guaranteed. 
We have uttered our intention in the Monroe Doctrine, 
now 100 years old, and must prove to the world 
that we are capable of giving force to our declaration. 

As a matter of protection for our export trade 
nothing could be greater than the control of the rail- 
road systems of the Western Hemisphere by Ameri- 
can interests. Supplementing this should be an ade- 
quate mercantile marine and a navy for its support. 

For trade in the Eastern Hemisphere the line of 
least resistance and greatest potential development lies 
in cultivating the friendship of Russia, China and 



254 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

Japan by constructing railroads for reaching Alaska 
and connecting thence with Asia at the Behring Strait. 
Rail communication with the Orient could be accom- 
plished through aiding in the extension of roads from 
China through Korea and extending from Vladivostok 
to the Behring Strait junction. Such a system would 
give access to the trans-Siberian road to Russia and 
the other European countries. 

The development of trade in the Orient will be 
one of the most direct and lasting avenues for our 
exports and will furnish added interest in our Philip- 
pine possessions. The co-operation of our mercantile 
marine in developing our export trade in time of war 
or in peace is greatly facilitated by the control of the 
Hawaiian Islands, Guam and the Philippines, which 
act as stations for trading and for military control. 
Our purchase of the Danish West Indies would seem 
to be utter extravagance if we are not to continue our 
purpose of being a world trade nation and dominant 
on the high seas. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

PROTECTING OUR IMPORT TRADE DURING 

WAR. 

As a nation which has developed one of the great- 
est volumes of import trade in the world, the United 
States is seriously injured by the interruption to ship- 
ping and the extraordinary measures which the bellig- 
erents and neutrals have been forced to put into opera- 
tion for their own protection. Rigid embargoes have 
been imposed by Great Britain, France. Italy, Russia, 
Germany, Austria, and the lesser nations, in the matter 
of materials which are needed for their own consump- 
tion and which have heretofore been sold to this coun- 
try in great quantities. This applies particularly to 
exports of wool, drugs, machinery, fabrics and many 
food products. 

The cutting off of these supplies has been one of 
the contributing causes of the high cost of living in 
the United States, and is even a more serious setback 
in the matter of cutting down the revenue the Govern- 
ment anticipated would be derived through tariff 
duties. While some of the articles enumerated in 
embargoes are on the free list, others were depended 
upon to bring in money from customs. 

Nations with which we have traded for more than 
a century with unbroken friendly relation have de- 
veloped into our open enemies and have murdered our 



256 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

citizens on the high seas by sinking vessels without 
notice and without attempt at rescue, and have de- 
stroyed neutral property of our merchants on ships of 
other neutrals and on merchant ships of belligerents. 
All this has been done in utter violation of international 
law. Our mercantile fleet was small when the war 
began and has been reduced by these ravages. 

Now that we are arming our vessels and are en- 
gaged in defending our rights to national existence 
and to freedom of the seas, it should be part of the 
functions of the Federal government to aid rather than 
to impede shipping. Our maritime laws should be so 
revised as to permit of vessels being registered under 
the American flag and sent into any sea to bring us 
the goods and the raw materials we need to continue 
our normal national existence. This is our safest in- 
surance that our import trade will not be utterly 
crippled during the war. 

In raw materials some of the indispensable articles 
imported include tea, cofifee, spices, sugar, leather, rub- 
ber, wool, burlaps, fertilizers, foods, including canned 
and preserved fish, woolens, linens, raw silk and various 
textiles. With a nation of over 110,000,000 we cannot 
instantly increase our productivity in regard to articles 
in this list that might ultimately be raised in this 
country and meanwhile our merchant ships and fleet 
should be utilized to meet the requirements of the 
nation. 

Aside from the commercial advantages of main- 
taining trade relations there is the political significance 
of having the United States demonstrate to the world 
that it is not a supine republic, but is capable of assum- 
ing a position among nations in line with Great Britain, 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 257 

France, Japan and other prime nations that are batthng 
to overcome Prussianism. Our future standing among 
nations, political and commercial, will depend upon 
the way in which we conduct ourselves in the present 
war. Nothing could be more disastrous to our future 
than to have it stand on the records that the United 
States had permitted a cabled threat from Berlin to 
drive us from the seas and to prevent our engaging 
in commerce with the world. To maintain our posi- 
tion we cannot remain passive and confine our activi- 
ties to armed neutrality, but must assume the dignity 
of a nation armed to enforce its rights and to uphold 
the principles of humanity by waging aggressive war. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

MOBILIZATION CAMPS. 

It is proverbially declared that republics are inept 
in matters requiring quick action and concentrated 
executive effort. This is a result of divided responsi- 
bilities and the desire of elective officers to cater to the 
opinions of their constituents. The policy of "keeping 
an ear to the ground," to hear what the home folk.^ 
think, is pardonable in times of peace, but in times of 
war the supreme question is protection of the State. 
All other belligerents in the great world war have 
found that personal privileges and customs ought to 
be brushed aside and temporarily suspended to effect 
needed results. 

In no respect are we more poorly prepared than 
in the matter of having mobilization camps in which 
to gather the hundreds of thousands, if need be, 
millions of men who will rally to the defense of the 
Republic. In each of our States there are proper sites 
for mobilization camps that should be developed to 
receive the recruits. Such camps should be selected, 
not to fill some political pledge or for favoritism, but 
upon the judgment of the organized military authori- 
ties in the United States army acting at the request 
of the Governors of the several States. A Board of 
Survey for the selection of mobilization camps should 
include a high United States regular army officer, the 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 259 

adjutant-general of a State and three surgeons, a reg- 
ular army surgeon, surgeon-general of the militia and 
an eminent member of the medical profession in the 
State. Upon their decision the mobilization camps 
should be laid out to achieve the greatest sanitary 
perfection and fill the military requirements for mass 
drill, extended manoeuvers and field practice. 

In mobilization camps no test is adequate that 
does not reproduce the combination of circum- 
stances which the soldier will find when in active 
service. Our training camps should not be con- 
structed along the lines of "hot-houses" with board 
floors for the tents, running water to the tent doors, 
mess halls and all the camping comforts that would 
attend a pleasure outing or which are obtainable when 
troops are in barracks. The men who rally to the 
colors do not regard service as a vacation, but expect 
to be drilled as soldiers and hardened to their task. 
Our militia State camps are distinctly not the pattern 
for mobilization camps. 

It is proper to consider the advisability of having 
the mobilization camps separate for the militia, volun- 
teer and naval reserve forces. These units would be 
drilled in their own camps, and when operating in a 
grand manoeuver would be brought together. By 
having the forces separate, but within reasonable 
marching distance, actual patrol conditions for mimic 
war could be established and the aviation corps and 
the intelligence department of each of the camps could 
operate on the theory that they were facing an enemy. 
In constructing trenches, in marching and counter- 
marching and in grand manoeuvers time would be 
saved in getting into contact, and a continuous and 



260 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

effective guard line would be imposed upon the several 
camps. This would be throwing the responsibility 
of alertness and military precision upon the new 
forces immediately upon their entering the mobiliza- 
tion camps. 

In times of peace camps could be utilized for the 
regular army manoeuvers, the militia manoeuvers and 
the practice of the boy scouts and volunteer military 
training organizations. Diagrams showing the gen- 
eral features of a properly constructed mobilization 
camp should be distributed to all the States and a 
uniformity of plan be adopted, where now there is 
only the loosest co-operation between State units and 
the Federal depai-tments. 

The mobilization camps should be protected by 
outlying barbed wire entanglements, and all of the 
various military safeguards that are utilized in actual 
warfare. The men in the camps while training should 
be put through the various lessons in defensive and 
offensive warfare and this requires time and the serv- 
ices of skilled officers. Great Britain did not sacrifice 
her millions of volunteers by throwing them hastily 
into war before they were trained, and this must be 
our guide in the present situation. In every State 
where militia men are being held in their armories, or 
where recruiting is done or men are huddled in cities, 
they should be sent at once into camps and given train- 
ing in living in the open. Practice in marching and 
bivouacing are experiences that soldiers should under- 
go in training and not be forced to take their initial 
lesson under fire. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

HOSPITAL PLANS FOR ENEMY SICK AND 
WOUNDED. 

One of the results of the United States having 
become the haven for hundreds of thousands of emi- 
grants from many of the European countries and for 
millions of Teutonic extraction is that in the event 
of a great war developing between this country and 
the Central Allies many thousands of able-bodied re- 
servists of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and 
Bulgaria will be scattered throughout this country. 
We have had the sad and enlightening experience that 
while enjoying the hospitality of this country men of 
the Teutonic nations have not hesitated to betray our 
generous conduct toward them by carrying out plots 
for the taking of American lives and the destruction 
of American property and have fostered active, armed 
hostilities against us. 

It is, therefore, necessary for the United States 
to include in its comprehensive plans for preparedness 
hospital camps where enemy wounded could be cared 
for or where enemy aliens, resident in this country 
and enjoying our protection, could be segregated from 
the wounded of our own armed forces. It would be a 
dangerous matter to have alien civilians, who might 
be taken ill during a time of active war and become a 
public charge, cared for in our public hospitals or in 



262 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

private institutions supported by the charity of our 
people. The proper place for the care and attention 
of belligerent alien sufferers should be in separate 
hospitals regulated on a strict military basis. It is 
conceivable that in our participation in the present war 
we will capture vessels of the enemy, and that prison- 
ers, wounded or suffering from illness, will be placed 
in our hands. Provision at our seaports should be 
made for taking care of such cases. 

In the event of any large body of Teutonic citizens 
or foreign residents becoming hostile in their actions 
and general attitude, it may become necessary for 
extensive concentration camps and hospital plans to 
be devised covering the sections of the country where 
the Germanic populations are largest. Hospital camps 
of the character described should be under the control 
of surgeons and veterans of the Spanish- American War, 
who are too old for active service, but who could be 
utilized as a proper staff for such hospitals. 

In selecting sites for these hospitals they should 
be located where healthy natural conditions prevail 
and at the same time should be remote from any of 
our cities or manufacturing centers, so as to avoid the 
possibility of contagious diseases spreading. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

WAR PLAN FOR BOSTON. 

Because of the vital importance of the New Eng- 
land States from a manufacturing point of view, and 
from the fact that there is a great congested popula- 
tion in this comparatively small area of the country, 
the question of the defense of the six States, compris- 
ing the New England group, is of extreme importance. 
Fortunately the eastern border between Maine and New 
Brunswick and between Maine, New Hampshire and 
Vermont does not have to be regarded as a military 
menace as our relations with the Dominion of Canada 
and Great Britain preclude the likelihood of any hos- 
tilities arising between this Government and Great 
Britain. 

Our danger comes from a direct attack by naval 
forces accompanying a transport of hostile troops. 
To effect a landing on American soil in the region of 
New England the German navy, which is the one that 
is capable of carrying war to this country, in the event 
of ships escaping the British blockade, could attempt 
the landing of forces on the New Brunswick coast and 
then march over land into the State of Maine. An at- 
tack could be directed against the coast cities of Maine, 
or the point of greatest resistance attacked in attempt- 
ing to capture the port of Boston. The other line of 
attack, which is the least likely to be undertaken, 



264 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

would be to approach the Rhode Island coast or to 
invade Long Island Sound, Because of the shallow 
waters and the channels which would have to be en- 
countered in such a manoeuver, the attack on Long 
Island Sound would be precarious. The operation of 
United States submarines and the effectiveness of 
shore batteries would be brought to play to greater 
advantage under such circumstances than against any 
attack which might be made on Boston or the Maine 
coast. 

As an initial step for the safety of this zone the 
mobilization of a field army of not less than 250,000 
regulars, militia and volunteer forces should be ef- 
fected. With the excellent railroad communication 
between Bridgeport and Boston, along the shore road 
and the interior lines of the New York, New Haven Sz 
Hartford Railroad, rapid mobilization can be effected. 
With due preparation the expeditious moving of 75,000 
to 100,000 men in Connecticut, Rhode Island and 
Massachusetts could be concentrated at any point. Wc 
have found that on gala occasions 75,000 to 80,000 
people congregate to see a football game or a base- 
ball game at New Haven or Boston and the railroads 
have facilities for assembling them and returning them 
to their homes within twelve hours. What can be 
done for profit can certainly be done for patriotism. 
In assembling for the protection of the New England 
States the naval reserve would at once mobilize at th'i 
ports assigned by the navy. New London, Newport, 
Boston, Portsmouth, are points where the United 
States has naval stations and important military ma- 
terial. All industrial plants and all lines of communi- 
cation, including steam railways, trolley lines, canals 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 265 

and important highways, would be put under patrol. 
The Cape Cod Canal, the short cut from Massachusetts 
Bay to Long Island Sound, and which eliminates the 
outside route from Boston to New York, is a vital link 
in the military plans and should be properly protected. 
It would give immediate access to Massachusetts Bay 
for naval vessels going to the defense of Boston, Ports- 
mouth and the Maine coast, and drawn from Long 
Island Sound and New York harbor. 

Immediately upon the approach of enemy forces 
the New England territory should be put under mar- 
tial law and enemy aliens and sympathizers interned 
and enemy ships and merchandise seized. All of New 
England? should be put on its guard to repel aerial 
attack and the use of defensive airships and anti- 
aircraft guns be resorted to. This emphasizes the im- 
portance of at once organizing aviation and anti- 
aircraft gun crews with the same spirit that the 
volunteer fire service is maintained and that the militia 
is organized. No town, village or city should be with- 
out its adequate quota of airships and anti-aircraft 
guns. With the mobility of the airship borders cease 
to exist as a barrier, and any point is vulnerable unless 
protected. 

A brief summary of the cardinal steps that should 
be taken in the defense of New England include : 

First, call to arms and proclamations by the Gov- 
ernors of the States declaring that a state of war 
embracing an actual attack, exists. 

Second, assembling of regular army forces, militia 
and volunteer forces at rallying stations. 

Third, mobilization of transportation facilities to 



266 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

move forces to the posts assigned by the high military 
authorities. 

Fourth, collection of supplies and munitions in ac- 
cordance with prearranged plans and their despatch 
to army depots. 

Fifth, substitution of alternates in the positions 
vacated by civilians answering the call to arms. 

Sixth, establishment of battle-formation for army 
and navy forces of the United States acting in con- 
junction with volunteers at threatened points. 

Seventh, co-ordination of civil governments with 
the United States in all departments. 

Eighth, segregation of enemy aliens to be effected 
by the police and constabulary forces. 

Ninth, enrollment of male civilians and women 
auxiliaries for hospital, police and transportation serv- 
ice in proportion to the urgency of the situation. 

Tenth, commandeering of public utilities, includ- 
ing railways, telegraph, telephone, wireless and other 
public service facilities. 

Eleventh, issuance of emergency currency for pub- 
lic works to provide work for unemployed on state and 
national developments. 

Twelfth, house to house canvass by special officers, 
boy scouts and girl auxiliaries for collection of in- 
formation as to seditious acts and evidence of foreign 
espionage. 

By the plan which the army and navy has tenta- 
tively discussed and which belligerents abroad are 
using to protect their coast, our defense of New Eng- 
land should include the operation of scout ships, ob- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 267 

servation hydro-aeroplanes and submarines' acting off 
the Atlantic coast. This first line should be strength- 
ened by cruisers and the final defense embodied in as 
strong a unit in battleships and armed cruisers as can 
be assembled. For New England, Boston should be 
made the battle zone headquarters of the United States 
army, navy and the other armed forces and a council 
of war should include the commander of the army 
department, the ranking admiral in charge of the North 
Atlantic squadron or his representative. Governors of 
the six New England States and New York, as the 
eastern end of Long Island is within the New England 
war zone. This body, acting in concert, would har- 
monize all movements and bring the fullest military 
forces to bear. 

It is not by having the several States go through 
individual war drills and manoeuvers that an effective 
defense can be created against a formidable enemy. 
The same co-ordination is needed for the defense of 
our coast at any spot against invasion as has been found 
requisite in the theatres of war throughout Europe. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

WAR PLAN FOR NEW YORK. 

In considering the war plan for the protection of 
New York City and its surrounding territory it must 
be appreciated that the port of New York represents 
the greatest concentrated evidence of wealth in the 
world. This port is the greatest point for clearance of 
ships with goods for export and is the greatest port of 
entry in the United States. Within a radius of 75 
miles of City Hall there are over 7,000,000 people who 
depend for their existence upon New York and its 
business activities. An enemy succeeding in capturing 
or destroying New York would deal this nation a 
terrific, if not fatal, blow. 

There are natural advantages in the situation of 
New York which make its defense easier than that of 
many other coast cities. It is accessible from the sea 
only by narrow ship channels and these are susceptible 
of immediate protection by means of torpedoes, mines 
and nets, supplanting strong shore batteries. Such 
defense is not sufficient to repel an enemy in force, 
but prevents the surreptitious entrance of submarines 
or surface craft to do raiding or desultory damage. By 
access through Long Island Sound armed vessels of 
an enemy could approach New York from the East, 
but this is a hazardous course and the United States 
navy is fully competent to cope against its successful 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 269 

accomplishment. The entire area of Long Island is 
susceptible of being turned into a formidable armed 
camp from Montauk Point to Brooklyn. Its flat 
topography and general sandy soil make trench con- 
struction easy. The Great South Bay and its tribu- 
taries with the numerous inlets make defensive opera- 
tions easy for light draught vessels, such as sub- 
marine chasers. The various inlets on the south shore 
of Long Island should be developed to sufficient depth 
by the United States government to afford access to 
the ocean on all tides. The great protective patrol 
of New York should be represented by a line of scout 
cruisers moving from Montauk Point to a point ofT 
Delaware Bay. Accompanying these should be aero- 
plane scouts, throwing out a still further line of ob- 
servation. 

At the port of New York a sufficiently strong 
naval unit should be established, so that upon sighting 
an enemy the American ships could put to sea and 
engage the enemy in a high sea action. Our shore 
batteries on Long Island, Staten Island and at Sandy 
Hook should be depended upon to repel the invasion 
of ships approaching our shores with the object of 
passing into the Lower Bay. 

The object of a high sea fleet is to destroy the 
enemy and to prevent the landing of either marines 
or an army contingent. The many newspaper and 
magazine plans which have been described as feasible, 
for a foreign foe to land an army of several hundred 
thousand on Long Island or New Jersey and move 
upon New York, are fantastic, but are not beyond the 
realms of possibility. The surest way to prevent any 
foreign nation from attempting to carry out such an 



270 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

ambitious undertaking is to have our coast protected 
by a formidable navy and an alert coast patrol, backed 
by an adequate armed land force. 

In the New York territory 500,000 men, represent- 
ing regulars, militia, naval reserve, volunteers and 
American Minute Men, should be available and con- 
centrated at points ranging from Cape May to Mon- 
tauk Point, and including a partial mobilization of 
New England forces from Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island and Connecticut. The railway facilities of New 
Jersey, Long Island and the New England States 
guarantee the quick concentration of forces. On a 
call for the defense of New York the entire armed 
establishments of New York State should be mobilized 
and held in readiness throughout the State to move 
on New York City if needed. The twelve consecutive 
steps that were described in the defense of the New 
England coast apply equally in the case of New York 
or any other point of coast attack. These embrace the 
proper sequence for orderly assembling of armed forces 
and for the proper maintenance of civil government. 

The three points of attack most likely against 
New York would embrace an attempted landing on 
Long Island from Montauk to Rockaway Beach, or 
by rushing through Long Island Sound to effect a 
landing on the north shore. The second attack would 
be directed upon New York harbor with the object ot 
demolishing our land batteries and bringing the battle 
to our navy. The third would involve an attempted 
landing along the Jersey coast for the purpose of flank- 
ing New York and menacing Philadelphia and the 
interior country. Against all three of these attacks 
vigilant airplane scouting and scout cruiser service is 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 271 

our best reliance. Once apprised of the approach of 
an enemy and assured of the direction of the attack 
our plans for meeting the blow could be quickly formu- 
lated and given immediate effect by the co-ordination 
of the Governors of the States as heretofore described 
and the action in general council of the army and navy 
commanders with the executives of the States of New 
York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, Delaware and Pennsylvania. 



CHAPTER L. 

WAR PLAN FOR GULF OF MEXICO. 

It has been declared by the most expert observers 
in the world that the Mississippi Basin, which includes 
all the land between the western slope of the Appa- 
lachian Mountains and the eastern slope of the Rocky- 
Mountains, is the richest and most valuable territory 
in the world. With this in view it can be stated that 
nothing is of more vital importance to the United 
States than to protect this territory. The great bulk 
of our population lives and prospers within this zone. 
The war plan for the defense of the Gulf of Mexico 
is the most direct and important consideration- in the 
defense of the Mississippi Basin. Armies to invade it 
from the east must cross the Appalachian Mountains, 
and it is inconceivable that a rush could be made from 
the Pacific coast that would carry armies over the 
Sierra Navada Mountains, across the great stretch 
between these mountains and the Rockies and accom- 
plish the still harder task of crossing the Rocky Moun- 
tains to invade the Mississippi Valley territory from 
the west. 

It is, therefore, important that the Government 
develop its Gulf of Mexico defense and have a war 
plan for operation there that will make the invasion 
of the territory practically impossible. The points of 
natural defense are the Straits of Florida, separating 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 273 

Florida from Cuba, and which we would be able to 
defend by the same modern methods that England 
has used in closing the Straits of Dover. 

Key West, Pensacola, Mobile, New Orleans and 
Galveston are other points of prime importance. The 
mouth of the Mississippi River under modern military 
and naval protection can be made impregnable. By clos- 
ing the Channel of Yucatan, between the western point 
of Cuba and the peninsula of Yucatan, with a strong 
patrol and with adequate mine and submarine pro- 
tection the Gulf of Mexico would be converted prac- 
tically into a great protected sea, available for military 
action in much the same manner that Russia has used 
the Black Sea. Its accessibility to an enemy would 
be so hazardous that only furtive raids would be con- 
templated, provided the United States had its formid- 
able navy and land "contingents mobilized and on the 
aggressive. 

If the enemy to be met succeeded in eflfecting a 
landing in Mexico or in securing the co-operation of 
Mexico as an ally were to attack, it would still be 
possible only after the demolition of our naval forces. 
In this circumstance the land defense along the Rio 
Grande and the borders of New Mexico, Arizona and 
California would have to be on a larger scale than 
is now being conducted to repress the Mexican 
rebellion and bandit raids. But the strength of the 
United States with its network of railroads at the back 
of the army would be greater than that of any force 
entering Mexico, which is poorly provided with rail- 
ways and has no commensurate resources as compared 
to the United States. 

The war plan for the Gulf of Mexico must include 



274 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

the mobilization of the regular army and navy con- 
tingents and the State troops from Georgia, Missis- 
sippi, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama. If the 
military action brought against the gulf should de- 
velop to great intensity, final reserves could be brought 
from other States and army posts. 

It would only be the result of a war that would 
arraign Great Britain as an enemy in which the United 
States would be in serious danger of losing control of 
the Gulf of Mexico and the use of the Panama Canal. 
As the relationship between the two great Anglo- 
Saxon nations is closer than ever before, and the 
objective for which they are warring is indi^ndual free- 
dom, the likelihood of a break is so remote that it can 
be disregarded in our military plans. 

All of the inhabitants of the Mississippi Basin 
would be benefited by having the Gulf of Mexico kept 
free and our export trade of grain, cotton and all other 
agricultural products safeguarded during the war. The 
transit of goods down the Mississippi and its tribu- 
taries and through all the other channels reaching the 
gulf coast would be continuous if the United States 
maintained control of the Straits of Florida and the 
Channel of Yucatan. Protection of the route through 
the Caribbean Sea to the Panama would be facilitated 
and access to the Panama assured by the presence of a 
dominant high sea naval unit operating from the safe 
havens of the Gulf of Mexico, Porto Rico, and our 
Virgin Islands, formerly the Danish West Indies. 



CHAPTER LI. 

WAR PLAN OF PACIFIC COAST. 

Embracing a wider view than mere defensive oper- 
ation, a war plan for the Pacific coast includes the 
assembling of an army of at least 500,000 men with 
San Francisco as a center. As every battle line has a 
center and a right and left flank, so an army of the 
United States distributed along the Pacific coast would 
have Seattle as its right flank and San Diego as its left 
flank and San Francisco as its natural center. It seems 
fortunate that these points constitute large seaport 
cities and industrial centers, and that they are access- 
ible by three perfected transcontinental railway sys- 
tems. The concentration of forces by our transcon- 
tinental roads and systems of connecting railways run- 
ning north and south along the Pacific coast, through 
Washington, Oregon and California, makes possible 
the mobilization of large forces in quicker time than 
can be accomplished in almost any other country in 
the world with a comparable coast line. 

The natural strength of San Francisco Bay makes 
it advisable to have this port developed into an im- 
pregnable military base both for the army and navy. 
The war plan on the Pacific should embrace the as- 
sembling of a naval battle unit sufficiently strong to 
carry war to an approaching invader. As on the At- 
lantic coast it has been shown that the greatest pro- 



276 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

tection will be derived from having scout cruisers 
patrol the ocean at considerable distances off shore, 
and beyond these to have a patrol of hydro-aeroplanes, 
so on the Pacific the same plan is desirable. One 
patrol should run from San Diego to San Francisco 
and another from San Francisco to Seattle. Owing to 
the mountain barriers that separate the Mississippi 
Valley and east from the Pacific, coast, the war plan 
should embrace having adequate mobilization camps, 
prison camps, supply stations, ammunition depots and 
horse and mule corrals located in California, Washing- 
ton and Oregon. This would make the Pacific coast 
States practically independent in the matter of mili- 
tary supplies. 

An offensive from the Pacific coast by the navy 
should be undertaken in conjunction with the move- 
ment of our naval forces from Honolulu and of a con- 
tingent force dispatched from the Panama, the Philip- 
pines, and from the station which should be established 
in Alaska. Thus an enemy attempting to invade the 
United States on the Pacific coast would be subject to 
attack from five directions. If our main sea fleet suc- 
ceeded in defeating and scattering the enemy, its ulti- 
mate escape in detachments would be minimized or 
prevented. If embarrassed by serious defeat and dis- 
memberment of its major units, a scattered enemy 
would find the ships of the United States cutting its 
lines of retreat west of the Philippines, south of Alaska 
and Seattle, north by ships from the Panama Canal 
and from all quarters on approaching the Hawaiian 
Islands. This is the advantage of having overseis 
possessions. It is what resulted when war was declared 
by Germany against Great Britain and her Allies. The 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 277 

warships of Great Britain, Japan and France cleared 
the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the 
lesser seas throughout the world of German naval and 
merchant ships and have kept them practically swept 
clean of surface vessels for the past thirty-three 
months. It is such a comprehensive policy that the 
United States should consider in a war plan for the 
Pacific coast. Nothing- short of a dominant fleet in 
the Pacific can assure the United States of safety for 
its mainland or of protection to its Pacific Ocean 
possessions. 



CHAPTER LII. 

WAR PLAN FOR THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 

When the United States acquired the Hawaiian 
Islands it was with the double purpose of having a 
possible territory from which to develop the sugar 
industry and to create a strong naval station midway 
between our Pacific coast and Asia. At that time we 
were not in possession of the Philippine Islands or 
Guam and did not expect to be created into a world 
power in the sense of having large foreign possessions. 
The war plan for the Hawaiian Islands now necessi- 
tates the concentration at this point of an army and 
navy unit of sufficient strength to be capable of de- 
fending the islands and also of instituting offensive 
war from them as a base. It is hardly conceivable that 
a formidable European enemy would attack the United 
States from the Pacific or make a drive against the 
Hawaiian Islands. Our danger centers rather from 
Asiatic nations seeking to expand eastward. 

The possession of the Hawaiian Islands as a strong 
naval and military center would have the advantage of 
making the defense of the Philippine Islands an easier 
task than would be the case if the group of Hawaiian 
Islands were to pass into the control of an enemy. In 
dispatching ships with troops, stores and ammunition 
from the Pacific coast, by way of San Francisco or the 
Panama Canal, the Hawaiian Islands could be made a 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 279 

port of call or a refuge in case of encountering superior 
forces, so its retention by the United States possesses 
the highest strategic value. 

The Hawaiian Islands would also represent a first 
line of retreat from the Philippines in case our evacu- 
ation of the islands became necessary. In the matter 
of defending the Philippines, the quickest reserves that 
could be brought would be those from the Hawaiian 
Islands and the augmentation of the naval strength of 
the Philippine naval unit could also be drawn from 
ships on the Hawaiian station. 

The land defenses in Hawaii should be brought up 
to the highest point of perfection, and no modern 
methods of land protection should be omitted. A 
strong contingent of the United States army and 
militia and naval reserve units could well be taken 
from the Pacific coast for intensive training in the 
Hawaiian Islands. This would give our citizen sol- 
diers some experience in moving oi transports and in 
operating in strange lands. 

As to our naval forces in the Hawaiian Islands, 
they should be made strong enough to be a formidable 
menace to any enemy. Because of the great distance 
from our mainland, the naval station at Hawaii should 
have complete repair shops, dry-docks, floating dry- 
docks and all classes of repair ships and supplies avail- 
able. While it would cost more money to transport 
raw material than for home delivery, it would be well 
worth while having some naval construction under- 
taken at this station so that men familiar with the 
details of such work would be available in case of 
urgent need. It was because Great Britain had carried 
out the policy of having naval repairs and naval con- 



280 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

struction done in her distant stations that the great 
empire has been self-supporting in all of its dominions 
and that each has been able to contribute to the armies 
operating in Europe and to the navy holding control 
of the seas. This should be our pattern in developing 
our overseas possessions. 

As our home munition plants, ordnance and am- 
munition plants create reserve supplies these should be 
transported to our distant possessions and held in re- 
serve. The reason for this is that it w^ill alv^ays be pos- 
sible for the United States in its continental territory 
to resort to intensive production in case of emergency 
and the supplies of iron, copper and all other materials 
necessary are available. Quite the contrary would be 
the circumstances in the event of our being obliged 
to engage in a great war against strong alliances in 
the future. Then our stations at Alaska, the Philippines, 
Guam, Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico and the Virgin 
Islands, if they were not fully fortified and amply 
stocked, would be subject to seizure. All of these dis- 
tant possessions should be factors of strength and not 
of weakness to us in an emergency. This imposes 
upon us the necessity of fortifying Hawaii and making 
it impregnable. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

WAR PLAN FOR THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

One of the most extensive groups of islands owned 
by a distant nation is that of the Philippines, which 
came into possession of the United States during the 
Spanish-American War, and which have been ours by 
treaty rights since 1898. These islands are situated 
off the mainland of Asia and separated from China by 
the China Sea and are distant but nine hundred miles 
from Japan. In consequence, the two largest and most 
potential nations that would be capable of assuming 
an aggressive attitude toward our retention of the 
Philippine Islands would be China and Japan. As 
there are no racial ties between the Filipinos and the 
Chinese or the Japanese, the only incentive that could 
lead either China or Japan to engage in war against 
the United States would be one arising from industrial 
conditions. At present this seems to be a remote prob- 
ability. Great Britain would undoubtedly regard an 
aggressive move by China or Japan as disturbing the 
world's peace in the matter of distant possessions be- 
ing held in safety by herself and European powers, 
and would discountenance an unprovoked attack upon 
the Philippines by either of the great Asiatic countries. 

Our policy in administering government in the 
Philippines has been liberal and beneficial. We have 
brought peace and prosperity to the Filipinos and 



282 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN • 

have eradicated oppressive governmental rule such as 
existed under the Spanish and have held out to the 
natives the promise of ultimate freedom and oppor- 
tunity to gain admission to our Union. 

The war plan of the Philippines must embrace the 
development of a great naval and military base in 
Manila. At present this is a station of moderate 
strength, but with the resources of the United States 
to draw upon it should be created into a military 
center stronger than Port Arthur proved to be and 
capable of withstanding a siege of several years' dura- 
tion. 

The Bay of Manila lends itself to successful de- 
fense and the island of Luzon, on which Manila is 
located, is extensive enough and fertile enough to 
make the largest garrison independent in the matter 
of sustenance. The deposits of coal and many minerals 
make the Philippine Islands a great potential military 
asset. 

With a generous percentage of the regular army 
of the United States acting with the Philippine scouts 
a force aggregating 150,000 men should constitute the 
land contingent and the navy force held on the Manila 
station should certainly include a complete naval unit 
and a navy yard capable of building vessels up to 
major ships, with their armament. Provision should 
also be made for the establishment of commercial ship 
yards for building mercantile vessels which would en- 
courage residence in the Philippines of a large and 
competent body of workmen and mechanics. 

In the arsenals in the Philippines heavy reserves 
should be kept so that upon urgent need forces could 
be transported to the islands and provided with ac- 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 283 

coutrements upon their arrival. A reserve supply of 
this character, sufficient to equip 250,000 in an expedi- 
tionary force, should be a minimum. 

Manila and its environing territory should be so 
protected as to be proof against siege or sea 
blockade for a period of at least two years, for within 
that time the full fighting force of the United States 
could be concentrated and a sufficient pressure brought 
to bear to relieve the islands. 

With a complete naval unit available at Manila 
and with wireless communication between Manila, 
Honolulu and the United States, the dispatch of the 
Manila squadron to any desired point to thwart an 
enemy in any part of the Pacific would be possible. 
It is with such objects in view that England main- 
tains her possessions in Asia, making Hong Kong 
a formidable center, supplementing her strongholds 
in India, Australia and New Zealand and island sta- 
tions. 

In place of having the Philippines the liability 
they are to this country they should be a source of 
strength. During our nineteen years' possession these 
things should have been accomplished, but our policy 
against national military preparedness has been a draw- 
back. Now that we are determined as a nation to 
achieve adequate preparedness, appropriations in Con- 
gress for the strengthening of the Philippine defenses 
will undoubtedly be made. Among other require- 
ments should be the establishment in the Philippines 
of powder factories capable of producing powder for 
the army and navy and for catering to the world-trade 
in the Orient for military and blasting powders. One 
of the greatest dangers in war is the transportation of 



284 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

explosives and to have a local industry in the Philip- 
pines capable of supplying this essential would be most 
desirable. Another matter of prime importance is to 
have the cultivation of cotton undertaken in the Philip- 
pines if for no other reason than to safeguard an ade- 
quate supply to meet military requirements. When 
the Philippines can be brought to a point where they 
are producing 250,000 to 300,000 bales of cotton an- 
nually, a great military asset will be developed. With 
nine million people only semi-civilized a great creative 
and constructive work lies before the United States 
and one worthy of our national power and enterprise. 
The best way to guarantee that our efforts will not 
prove fruitless will be to educate the Filipinos and 
bring them into full citizenship as soon as they qualify. 
No nation will be moved to assail an independent, self- 
governing and capable island empire of nine millions 
supported by a country such as the United States with 
its one hundred and ten millions of people and its 
boundless wealth and power. 



CHAPTER LIV. 

WAR PLAN FOR ALASKA. 

Since the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 
for the small sum of seven million dollars, or two 
cents an acre, the United States has found that its 
acquisition of five hundred thousand square miles of 
territory is. one of its greatest potential assets. The 
territory was one of only minor interest when it was 
a seal-fishing station and it was not until gold was 
discovered that the rush to Alaska began. Following 
the Klondike days of 1897, and the discovery of the 
gold at Nome, another influx of prospectors occurred 
in Alaska. Since that time the great gold field in the 
Yukon across the Canadian line has developed. It is 
most accessible through Alaska, and this has brought 
other settlers to the territory. In prospecting for gold 
great deposits of copper have been found in Alaska 
and coal has been discovered in great quantities. Amer- 
ican capital is now engaged in developing Alaska not 
as a mining section only, but from its agricultural and 
industrial angles. 

All of this leads to the necessity of the United 
States properly defending its wonderfully rich and 
valuable possession. Because there is a stretch of ter- 
ritory between the northern continental limits of the 
United States and the southern extremity of Alaska 
represented by British Columbia, our coast line on 



2S6 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

the Pacilic is not continuous. The matter of defend- 
ing Alaska, therefore, becomes one that must be con- 
sidered as a detached possession and treated the same 
as Hawaii, the Philippines or any of our other insular 
possessions. 

In Alaska the cities which have been established 
are not populous, and have not been fortified or made 
impregnable from assault by land or sea. Juneau, 
Nome and Sitka are the principal cities and none of 
these possess military strength. Because of the rigor- 
ous climate and the long winters it is certain that no 
land operations, representing an invading enemy army, 
would be carried on in the Alaska territory. The chief 
defense should be centered in a strong naval unit and 
the most desirable natural harbor in the territory 
should be created into a strong station. 

Because of our close relationship with Great 
Britain it should be possible for our diplomats to 
negotiate an available treaty that would permit of the 
United States using the territorial waters of the British 
Columbia coast, including the Straits of Georgia. 
Queen Charlotte Sound and Haceta Strait. This would 
give us access to Alaska without the necessity of 
entering the open waters of the Pacific. Supplement- 
ing this should be the extension of our railroad sys- 
tems north through British Columbia and into Alaska 
territory. By rail or water we would then have routes 
that could be properly protected against an enemy ap- 
proaching the North American continent from the 
Pacific. 

When the United States army is brought to its 
proper complement of officers and men a body of at 
least twenty-five thousand should be stationed at 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 287 

points in Alaska and engaged in the constructive work 
of building proper defenses for the cities and river 
mouths. The Yukon river should be safeguarded as well 
as the Copper river. Cape Prince of Wales should be se- 
lected as a point on Behring's Strait to be created into 
a strong station so as to connect with Asia at East 
Cape, the nearest point of land in the Eastern Hemi- 
sphere approaching North America. In a treaty with 
Great Britain a reciprocal arrangement should be 
made by which unarmed forces of the United States 
would have the privilege of crossing British Columbia 
from Seattle to Sitka or Juneau. 

In the readjustment that will be made as the re- 
sult of the present world war nations that have vast 
contiguous territories, such as the United States and 
the Dominion of Canada, should safeguard themselves 
against a repetition of the present violations of inter- 
national law by enemies and the repressive effect of 
treaties negotiated in past centuries and affecting obso- 
lete customs. The protection of a continent must be 
safeguarded and not imperilled as is the case where 
technicalities in century-old treaties are given validity. 
By acquiring the privilege to move unarmed men 
across British territory we would have the advantage 
of equipping them upon their arrival in Alaska. If 
this wise policy were carried out of keeping adequate 
reserve of arms, munitions and accoutrements on the 
Alaska station this would be a great military ad- 
vantage to the United States. 

The war plan for Alaska must comprehend the 
presence of a strong naval unit which could repel an 
invader and which could be held in readiness to move 
to the assistance of any other Pacific coast territory 



288 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

that was menaced. In view of the fact that our domain 
now embraces lands in the arctic, temperate and trop- 
ical zones, it is the course of wisdom to have the mern- 
bers of our army and navy transferred from different 
territories so as to become practised in the varying 
duties and requirements of war under radically dif- 
ferent climatic conditions. 

As part of the proper development of a plan of 
national preparedness, which is to continue and keep 
pace with the growth of the nation, our naval forces 
should make the passage from Alaska to the Atlantic 
by way of Cape Horn when no urgent call requires 
the quicker passage through the Panama Canal. This 
is made necessary by the fact that unless our naval 
ofi"icers and the captains of our transport and cargo 
vessels travel the perilous course through the Straits 
of Magellan and around Cape Horn, they will lose the 
skill and assurance which has always made American 
seamen famous. The easy way of going through the 
Panama Canal will serve the purpose of commercial 
enterprise, but the difficult course should be adopted 
by our navy except in practice passages through the 
Panama or in an emergency, as at present. 

By taking the long course around South America 
and stopping at all ports of call our naval vessels 
would constantly be brought to the attention of South 
Americans and the power of the United States be 
graphically impressed. It has been England's sea 
power that has attracted trade and made the British 
flag familiar in every port of the world. Adopting 
this policy would be the best national educational plan 
that could be used and would accompHsh much in 
furthering our export and import trade. Our grand 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 289 

naval cruise on the Pacific each year should include 
making the passage via Cape Horn on a trip east to 
Buenos Aires, and on the return making the passage 
through the Straits of Magellan and stopping at South 
America west coast ports. On the reach north the 
grand sea fleet should cruise the waters of Behring 
Sea and return south, stopping at the naval stations 
on the Alaska coast. 

It is only by preparation and drill that Alaska 
can be converted from the territorial military liability 
it is at present into a strong national mea.ns of defense 
and offense. 



CHAPTER LV. 

PRISON AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS. 

From the outbreak of the world's war in August, 
1914, it became apparent that the several nations in 
Europe would have to resort to extraordinary measures 
to protect themselves against the mendacious acts of 
aliens resident in their territory. Germany at once 
forcibly concentrated all Russians, French, Belgians 
and English in the empire and placed them in concen- 
tration camps. There had been no acts of violence 
done by any of these peoples, but German thorough- 
ness took no chances. France acted with considerable 
promptness, but great damage was done in many cities 
by Germans and Austrians before a rigorous segrega- 
tion was imposed. Great Britain, acting with the usual 
lethargy of a people accustomed to free institutions, 
did not segregate the Germans and Austrians in Lon- 
don and her other large cities and many acts of depre- 
dation occurred and the spy system of the Teutonic 
aliens was most active for months after war was de- 
clared. Finally the British authorities exercised the 
needed precaution and placed enemy aliens in concen- 
tration camps. 

The problem of the European nations has since 
developed into one of unprecedented magnitude as 
war prisoners by the millions have been taken by both 
belligerents, and it is estimated that there are now 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 291 

more than two million Teutonic prisoners in the hands 
of the Entente Allies and that the Teutonic Allies have 
over three million military captives, besides several 
hundred thousand alien non-combatants held captive 

The United States will have no such tremendous 
problem to solve in so far as alien military prisoners are 
concerned, because there is no likelihood of vast armies 
invading this country and falling captives. Our danger 
is to be found in the possible disloyalty of those who 
still permit the country of their nativity to obliterate 
their love and fidelity to the country of their adoption. 

Our plans for prison camps and concentration 
camps should be so regulated that any aliens whom 
we are forced to put in concentration camps as a mat- 
ter of precaution and against whom there has been no 
actual charge of violence or intrigue should not be 
thrown in contact with those who have been made 
prisoners for actual breaches of the peace and attacks 
upon the Government, In locating concentration or 
prison camps the same hygienic consideration should 
be given as in selecting sites for hospital camps. This 
country does not wish to have the onus rest upon it of 
not having given proper care to those who would be 
forced to go under restraint. 

We have vast areas in the United States that can 
be selected for locating such camps and that would be 
susceptible of being improved by intensive cultivation 
or through drainage and irrigation work. While aliens 
were held as non-combatant prisoners in concentration 
camps or as prisoners for minor overt acts, the neces- 
sary suffering of their dependents could be greatly al- 
leviated by giving willing workers a fair compensa- 
tion for their labors. Those who showed a recalcitrant 



292 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

attitude would be treated as undeserving prisoners 
and obliged to suffer the consequence of close prison 
confinement and the loss of their earning power. There 
is such a large number of aliens of Teutonic blood in 
the United States and the evidence is so preponderant 
that they would remain loyal to this country that no 
hasty, sweeping move will be made to collect them 
by hundreds of thousands in concentration camps 
throughout the United States. It would only be by 
the demonstration of a vicious attitude towards this 
country that the freedom of the great majority of such 
aliens will be interfered with in any military manner. 

We have, however, as a solemn obligation to 
humanity and through respect for international law to 
make provision against any contingency that may arise 
from our war with Germany and her Allies. 

In New York our first act since the declaration 
of war was to seize the interned merchant ships of 
the Teuton nations. We had no adequate accommo- 
dation ;for the thousand and more officers and sailors, 
and had to make use of Ellis Isand, our Immigration 
Bureau- The same unpreparedness prevailed in other 
ports. 



CHAPTER LVI. 

PENSION PLAN FOR SOLDIERS, SAILORS 
AND THEIR DEPENDENTS. 

As this nation is now the richest in actual posses- 
sion of gold, in credits and in the productivity of its 
natural resources, its lands and its general industries, 
the necessity for making adequate provision for the 
soldiers and sailors who are called upon to defend the 
United States and fight its battles is transcendant. No 
red tape should interrupt the payment of pensions to 
the men who may be injured in fighting the battles of 
their country. It is even more necessary that provi- 
sion should be made for the dependents of those who 
take up arms for the Republic. Our system of calling 
for volunteers and of enrolling the members of the 
State militia and naval reserve results in married men 
forming a large percentage of the forces that are en- 
rolled in the army and navy. Men in the militia and 
naval reserve must be given adequate protection for 
their families and soldiers' allowances must be deter- 
mined upon and paid to their families without months 
of delay and the consequent hardships that would be 
incurred. 

As we have not adopted universal military train- 
ing and the system, while now being considered, is not 
operative, it is clear that the great majority of those 
who will form the army and navy will represent men 



294 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

who leave civil life to dedicate their efforts to the 
protection of the country. A narrow and parsimoni- 
ous policy by Congress in the matter of arranging for 
pensions and for allowances for soldiers' dependents 
would be a disgrace to the United States. 

Although the greatest strain has been put upon 
France, England and the other belligerents in the 
world war, they have provided funds for the support 
of women and children and the indigent male adults 
who have been left without resources through the 
volunteering or drafting of men for the armies and 
navies of all belligerents. 

As supplementing any provision that the Federal 
government may take, State government and munici- 
palities should move to augment the pittance which 
would be given the dependents of soldiers and sailors 
and by special appropriations increase the moneys to 
be paid while the natural bread winner is in the service 
of his country. No charity is involved in such an act, 
but a supreme duty would be properly met. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

PLAN FOR DEFENSE OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 

In all discussions of national preparedness there 
has been little said regarding the protection of the 
capitol of the United States. Washington has had 
the experience of being sacked and the President and 
his official staff driven from the city by armed forces 
of Great Britain. This ignominious occurrence was a 
fea'tire of the war of 1812. Following the Revolution 
it was the misfortune of the United States to lapse 
into a state of unpreparedness through the policy of 
pacifists and our military and navy equipment was 
allowed to retrograde until it was insufficient to meet 
the task of defending our Atlantic coast from invasion. 
Four years of desultory war, from 1812 to 1815, in- 
clusive, was the penalty we paid for being unprepared 
for we gained no augmented powers or accessions of 
territory through the treaty that ended the war. 

At the present time the United States is involved 
in a war which has greater potential dangers than did 
our second struggle against Great Britain. We are 
now fully familiar with the barbaric character of war 
that would be waged against the United States if the 
forces of the German Empire could be brought against 
us. No respect for international law would check the 
invader from the same character of crimes as have 
marked the conduct of the world war in which the 



296 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

German arms have operated against France, Belgium, 
Great Britain, Servia, Poland, Russia and Roumania. 

It is of paramount importance that Washington 
should be adequately defended. The first requisite is 
that a large and thoroughly competent aerial unit be 
established at the capitol and that every method of 
aircraft defense be established to protect the capitol, 
the White House, the public buildings and the navy 
yard. The approaches up the Potomac can be more 
readily defended than can the city from attack from 
the air. 

At the present time our aerial equipment is not 
sufficient to furnish adequate protection to our coast 
cities, let alone to points in the interior. This is the 
condition which members of Congress, sitting in the 
halls of our national legislature, should be brought to 
consider. Their own lives and the destiny of the coun- 
try depend upon proper defense for the seat of the 
national government. 

With the swift movement of airships, which attain 
from 90 to 200 miles an hour speed, the aviation corps 
from Washington . would be of prime assistance in 
protecting Norfolk, Newport News, Baltimore, Wil- 
mington and even Philadelphia in emergency. In 
place of being a point of weakness Washington should 
be developed into the strongest military reserve base 
in this country. 

With water facilities furnished by the Potomac 
and with adequate railroad accommodations centering 
upon Washington the concentration of troops on this 
point can be readily accomplished. 

In the event of any large offensive engagement 
aimed at the Chesapeake, drafts upon Washington for 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 297 

troops and naval forces would be the most natural to 
make and men could be brought into action quicker 
than from any other point except those immediately 
on the Chesapeake and its tributaries. 

Let us take the necessary steps to make Washing- 
ton safe from naval, land or aerial assault. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 



PLAN FOR PERMANENT WORLD PEACE. 

Throughout the world the spirit of democracy is 
stirring nations that have long been held under the 
rule of autocracies. It is found that so repressed a 
nation as Russia can shuffle ofi. the trappings of royalty 
and assume constitutional government with practically 
a bloodless revolution. 

The same spirit of independence has worked for 
the emancipation of the half billion Chinese and all 
other nations that are engaged in the world war direct- 
ly, or through the restrictions imposed on neutrals. 
All look to democracy as the solution of their troubles. 

The plans that have been promulgated for the at- 
tainment of permanent world peace all contain the 
basic principle of representative government. The 
principle that is as old as mankind has been expressed 
in the words of Lincoln, when he described this coun- 
try as dedicated to the idea of government of the 
people, for the people and by the people. The entrance 
of the United States into the world war has come as 
the culminating event to bring the entire world to an 
appreciation of the fact that consent of the governed 
is necessary in order to have a just government insti- 
tuted for the protection and benefit of the people. 

President Wilson voiced a broad propaganda in 
his address to the Senate of the United States, in which 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 299 

he advocated the adoption of a worl4--wide Monroe 
Doctrine. By this he indicated that nations should 
abstain from seeking further territorial acquisition and 
control over alien peoples, without their consent and 
on the basis of capture by force of arms or cession 
through arbitrary treaties. 

Before the United States was forced to enter the 
present conflict it had suffered the. indignities of being 
regarded as a craven nation because of its devotion to 
the ideals of peace. The belligerents and many neutral 
nations thought that the United States would remain 
passive under any provocation and that peace at any 
price was the nation's motto rather than the immortal 
words, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 
Events have shown that this country has been patient 
and forgiving and did not take up arms lightly, but as 
a last resort to save the honor of the country and for 
the perpetuation of our institutions. 

It is now the unanimous intention of all those who 
speak with authority for the people to bring the United 
States into a position of full preparedness for the de- 
fense of the Republic and to make possible for this 
Government to aid in the complete suppression of 
Prussian militarism. 

The basis of permanent peace which will come as 
the result of this war and which will end, not with peace 
without victory, but with peace through the vindica- 
tion of the full rights of humanity, should be repre- 
sented in a league of nations pledged and armed to 
maintain world peace. 

The compact of prime nations which will be en- 
tered into at the conclusion of the present world war 
must include a plan for the consolidation not only of 



300 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

the armed forces of the nation, but a complete con- 
solidation of the indebtedness incurred in the conduct 
of the war. If this is not done it will impose a crush- 
ing burden upon the people of all lands and will retard 
the progress of the world for a century or more. 

It would appear that as every nation has made 
lavish sacrifices in life and in property proportionate 
to its population and resources, the financial 
burden of the war should be apportioned on a pro rata 
basis. An issue of bonds for the grand total cost of 
the world's war, which it is estimated will approximate 
a hundred billion dollars, could be distributed among 
the nations of the world, including all those who had 
been belligerents as well as many who had remained 
neutral, and made the basis of international credit and 
exchange. These bonds should carry not more than 
three per cent, interest and a basis for their amortiza- 
tion should be adopted that would accomplish their 
full retirement within a period of fifty years following 
the first ten-year period from the date of the peace 
treaty. 

American diplomacy can accomplish the greatest 
achievement that has ever been recorded if its voice 
in the world's peace conference can succeed in bring- 
ing all of the belligerents to a realization that justice 
must be the keynote of the terms of settlement. 

Questions of personal indemnities for flagrant vio- 
lations of international law should be considered sep- 
arately from the terms upon which just peace can be 
concluded. The Entente Allies have a right to demand 
damages, and we, in joining them, give the full weight 
of our national strength to the principle that the exi- 
gencies of war do not justify inhuman acts on the high 



AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 301 

sea or on land. Atrocities and the destruction of cities, 
the enslavement of peoples and all of the other brutali- 
ties that have been a part of the "war of frightfulness" 
as waged by Germany and her allies should be made 
the subject of distinct penalties in money, land and 
property. These forfeitures would not be in the light 
of an indemnity as a result of the war, but as punitive 
damages for the murders and ravages by the armed 
forces of the Teutonic Allies. 

The question of settling territorial borders and the 
rehabilitation of nations according to their racial sim- 
ilarities and geographical positions forms the proper 
subject for the world's peace conference. As the 
United States does not enter the war for the purpose 
of extending its territorial acquisition, or for acquiring 
control of alien peoples, its voice in the world confer- 
ence can be heard and will carry weight as the only one 
that would be prompted by absolutely impartial views. 

In consolidating the armed forces of the 
world to form a Peace League, the basis of con- 
tribution would be in proportion to the existing ton- 
nage and armament in the navy and the man-power in 
the army of each nation. So in the redistribution of 
the war indebtedness the proportion basis should carry 
and the defeated belligerents should be entered into 
the equation on the same basis as the Confederate 
States were brought back into the United States and 
the war debt of the Federal government became a 
national obligation and its payment falls pro rata upon 
all the States. The penalty for secession has been that 
the southern States have had to rebuild their own 
destroyed cities and countryside and have had to sup- 
port their dependent soldiers and sailors. 



302 AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 

So with the Teutonic Allies when they are finally 
defeated, their own obligations as represented by wat 
loans and by the indebtedness incurred in the conduct 
of the war would be borne by them individually. 

The debt representing the expenditure and the 
continuing obligations of the Entente Allies and the 
neutral nations affected by the war through destruc- 
tion of neutral lives and property would be consoli- 
dated in the world war bonds. This total should 
be proportioned among all of the nations, including 
Germany, Austria, Turkey and Bulgaria, all bearing 
their proportionate share. 

This would be the just penalty imposed upon them 
for their wanton rupture of world peace, and in addi- 
tion to punitive damages for their inhuman methods 
of waging war. 

The joining of all of the prime nations of the 
world and the lesser peoples that have been crushed or 
injured would form a common bond and association 
which would make for the assurance of continued 
peace. It would help at once to restore world pros- 
perity by relieving the peoples of all nations of the 
crushing necessity of paying high rates of interest on 
scores of billions of dollars and would create by one 
supreme act a real brotherhood of mankind. 

This would insure against the individual repudia- 
tion of debts by any nation and would give immediate 
impetus to commerce throughout the world. It would 
defeat the efiforts of agitators in any land to create 
industrial revolution and would safeguard the van- 
quished as well as the victors from the ruinous period 
of a slow reconstruction. No plan which imposes 
crushing indemnities upon the workers of the world 



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AMERICAN MINUTE MEN 303 

can be counted on to bring about permanent peace. 
In the scales of justice that must be held at an 
even balance in the world conference the life blood 
of millions who have perished on the battlefields and 
of scores of millions who have been maimed and crip- 
pled for life must weigh heavier than the cold evi- 
dences of indebtedness. No money can restore the 
dead or give full capacity to the wounded. 

For the sacredness of national indebtedness there 
should be due regard, but the question of the rate of 
interest on this blood money should be settled on be- 
half of humanity. As nations have had the power to 
take 25, 50, 75 per cent, of the incomes of their peoples 
and to commandeer property and demand the service 
and lives of their peoples, so in the final settlement 
the consolidation of the total war indebtedness and 
its issuance in the form of world war bonds at a 
moderate rate of interest is a matter of supreme neces- 
sity and should be adopted by unanimous vote of those 
in the world peace conference. 

This action and the existence of an international 
peace force will be the positive guarantees that the 
world has come from the furnace of war purified and 
reborn with peace and brotherhood as the fruits of 
victory. 



